Genetic Counseling and Its Importance

Genetic diseases occur due to abnormalies consisting in the genomic material of the living beings. It may transmit from one generation to the other but it may also be limited only in the affected individual. Everyone carries a risk for a particular genetic disease but a greater risk is observed in some families. Today, in parallel with the development in genetics, an increasing demand from the public and medical field is present. This situation brings importance to inform individuals, their families and their children of their present or future genetic conditions, a process called genetic counseling. There is no treatment for most of the genetic diseases, however it is important to follow the possible novel traetment protocols and diagnosis of the diseases is possible with genetic counseling. In our country, there are genetic centers based in the university and private hospitals. People that refer for genetic counseling, physicans and other health care workers that refer those people to those centers understand the importance of genetics and genetic counseling and they ensure more and more individuals to receive this service. In this review, genetic counseling, its status in our country and in the world is presented widely with up to date literature.