Patient Care Services
Mayo Clinic offers genomic testing to patients in order to personalize care. Health care experts can use knowledge about a patient's DNA to potentially diagnose, predict, treat and prevent disease — allowing medical care to be tailored to each individual person.
Patients are considered on a case-by-case basis for individualized medicine care from specialized clinicians at Mayo Clinic's campuses in Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; and Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona.
Individualized medicine services
The individualized medicine experts at Mayo Clinic provide services focusing on:
Advanced cancer. Cancer services (PDF) typically focus on cancers that continue to progress after other options have failed. Genomic sequencing of the tumor is used to look for changes or alterations in the cancer, which may identify new treatment options.
Rare and undiagnosed disorders. Some children or adults experience health problems that have no definite diagnosis (PDF), but are suspected to have a genetic cause. Oftentimes, these individuals have had genetic testing, but the tests have not provided a final diagnosis.
In these cases, our team of scientists and physicians use genomic sequencing to look for variations, which may identify an underlying cause, diagnosis or potential options for therapy.
Drug-gene testing. Some genes are responsible for how your body processes medication. The testing of drug-gene interactions is called pharmacogenomics or pharmacogenetics. This information can help guide selection of the right drug and right dose of specific medications (PDF) and guide more effective treatment or avoid complications that may vary from mild to potentially life-threatening. Some medications for which pharmacogenomics testing is currently available include codeine, warfarin warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven), tamoxifen and simvastatin (Zocor).
To learn more about genomics and individualized medicine, and to assist you in making a decision about pursuing this type of health care, educational materials and resources are available from the National Human Genome Research Institute.