Genetic testingAbout epilepsy and genetics: Do doctors have it backward?

There are many different types of genetic tests available to doctors treating epilepsy. Some of them are easy, low-cost tests that are less likely to find the cause of seizures. Some are much more expensive but are much more likely to get answers. When doing genetic tests, most epilepsy doctors start with the lower-cost tests first. If these do not find an answer, they often will order more expensive tests until an answer is found. We do not know if this is the best approach.1 In their article, “Diagnostic yield of genetic tests in epilepsy: a meta-analysis and cost-effectiveness study,” Fernandez et al.2 ask whether it would save money if we changed the order of genetic tests and did the most expensive tests first.