It is well established that unique patient characteristics exist to guide therapeutic drug decision making. These assist in optimising drug response and minimising adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and include age, weight, diet, co-morbidities, liver and renal function, as well as drug-drug interactions.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common life-limiting autosomal recessive conditions in South Africa. CF is increasingly being recognised in all of South Africa.
Ampath Genetics is excited to announce the introduction of products of conception (POCs) testing using next generation sequencing (NGS) technology. NGS allows analysis of all chromosomes (1-22, X and Y), resulting in significantly increased pick-up rates of chromosomal abnormalities when compared to conventional testing approaches.
NIPT is a safe and accurate prenatal screen to calculate the risk that a foetus has of being affected with a chromosomal condition, for example, Down Syndrome. NIPT makes use of cell-free DNA released from the placenta into the maternal bloodstream (Figure 1)
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide, with approximately 1.7 million cases diagnosed annually. In South Africa, the incidence is 40 new cases per 100 000 persons per year. The incidence of breast cancer varies across the world between races and regions.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene testing is anything but straightforward. This article attempts to discuss the salient points to consider when faced with testing requests.