Víctor Pérez Sola, president of the Spanish Society of Biological Psychiatry (SEPB).
The usefulness of genetic study in Psychiatry is still in a early stage and, although its future is promising, for the moment the scientific evidence supports its use in two specific pathologies and for specific cases. As detailed to Medical Writing Víctor Pérez Sola, president of the Spanish Society of Biological Psychiatry (SEPB), these pathologies where it is advisable to use the genetic study are the autistic spectrum and mental disability.
“In the case of this type of disease, especially in infant-juvenile patients, genetics is taking over. There are many hospitals that already carry out genetic studies and it is available in many centers”, details the psychiatrist, who rules out its use in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or TDH, where the genetic component is not so important.
A study that provides “transcendental” information to the diagnosis and therefore helps improve treatment from the patients. “The genomic study at the moment can only help you make a more precise diagnosis and give more information on how to manage the disorder, especially if these genetic markers explain the malfunction of a metabolic process or an enzyme.”
Universal access to genetic tests for certain mental disorders
Sola is convinced that in the future many mental illnesses will have a genetic test that will help diagnosis and, above all, treatment. Although, for the time being, this cannot be extrapolated to all disorders, the psychiatrist does claim that “in all those pathologies where the genetic study has proven to be useful, all hospitals They should have access”.
“Right now you can genotype the entire genome by a Reasonable price, since technology has advanced a lot and there are pathologies where it should be necessary and obligatory to do to get a good diagnosis. In Psychiatry we are at a time when genetics is decisive for certain pathologies and its study is essential”, details the president of the SEPB.
A genetic study that may be decentralized hospital: “It is not necessary to have genetics centers in every hospital. Currently, it is sent to large genomic centers when you have a case that can be studied and, given the number of cases, one center per autonomous community is sufficient”, details Sola.
Specific cases to have optimal results
Within the autistic spectrum and mental disability there are genetic studies that have been shown to improve diagnosis and treatment. However, as Sola points out, it is not in all cases. “These pathologies are very heterogeneous and there are many cases where it will not be decisive. However, there are cases with a very crooked evolution and, above all, the cases where there is family background of similar pathologies. There the genomic study is essential”, claims the psychiatrist.
A narrow performance stage that will be expanded in the near future. “I am convinced that we are going to go advancing the genetic determinants of mental health. The current problem is that the markers that have emerged in the genomic study show little variability with respect to a healthy person and, therefore, doing them for a single person does not make much sense”.
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