Personalized medicine is a relatively new field that uses a person’s genetic makeup to create unique plans for illness prevention, molecular diagnostics, and treatment. It is commonly referred to as stratified or precision medicine and is a game-changer in contemporary healthcare.

As our knowledge of DNA and genetics expands, personalized medicine allows for more customized care and efficient treatments using biotechnology. It helps physicians build individualized treatment plans that minimize the use of unnecessary medications and improve patient outcomes.

What is personalized medicine?

Personalized medicine is an approach that tailors treatment for each patient by taking into account their specific genetic makeup, biomarkers, way of life, environmental variables, and behavioral traits. Personalized medicine considers how an individual’s genetic profile might make them more susceptible to certain illnesses and more or less receptive to certain types of treatments and drugs. Physicians use data-intensive biomedical tests, including DNA sequencing, wireless health monitoring devices and imaging procedures, to inform decisions on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

Personalized medicine can cover:

• Risk assessment
• Prevention
• Early detection
• Diagnosis
• Treatment
• Monitoring for treatment management

Genomics research, the study of genetic material, has made it possible to determine when certain individuals are vulnerable to certain genetic disorders. In addition, we now know that a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment doesn’t work. Certain people might not respond to a particular treatment at all, respond significantly differently, have a different ideal treatment length, or need a substantially greater dosage to get a favorable impact.

The field of proteomics, the study of proteins, allows medical professionals to examine protein expressions linked to particular diseases in order to create individualized care and preventative plans. Proteomics is also vital to drug development.

Personalized medicine enables medical professionals to develop preventive care programs and therapies tailored to each patient. This can lead to better health outcomes, minimize the possible side effects of unnecessary treatments, and avoid the costs of prolonged “trial-and-error” attempts to treat illnesses.

Benefits of personalized medicine

Although personalized medicine is considered to be an emerging field, it is paying dividends. Let’s review the benefits.

• Improved treatment outcomes. By tailoring treatments to each patient’s unique traits, personalized medicine creates more successful treatment programs. Finding the best treatment takes less time with this tailored approach than with conventional medicine because it involves less trial and error.
• Minimized side effects. By accounting for unique drug responses, personalized medicine’s targeted therapy reduces the likelihood of adverse drug reactions. Healthcare providers improve the safety and tolerability of therapies by learning about each patient’s specific genetic and physiological makeup.
• Enhanced patient engagement. The goal of personalized medicine is to encourage patients and doctors to work together so that people can have a say in their own treatment. Through active participation, people are better able to comprehend their health conditions, which in turn promotes treatment plan adherence and more honest dialogue between patients and healthcare providers.
• Research and innovation. By producing massive volumes of genomic, proteomic, and phenotypic data, personalized medicine improves medical research and innovation. Doctors and researchers are better able to work together with this deluge of data, which speeds up medical progress by creating innovative therapies and precision-based clinical trials to test therapies adapted to individual patients.

Applications of personalized medicine

Numerous applications for personalized medicine have been developed. Here’s a look at three important ones:

• Genetic testing. Personalized medicine involves the use of genetic testing to find changes or mutations in a person’s DNA that could make them more susceptible to certain diseases, such as cancer, heart problems, and metabolic disorders. It’s a form of risk assessment. Discovering these genetic markers allows clinicians to develop patient-specific prevention and treatment plans, cutting down on the need for trial-and-error methods and enhancing patient outcomes.
• Customized medication plans. Pharmacogenomics is a branch of personalized medicine that studies the way a person’s genes affect their response to medications. By considering a person’s genetic information, physicians can create unique therapeutic strategies. This helps to reduce the occurrence of adverse medication reactions and gives patients the best possible therapies at the correct doses.
• Preventative care strategies. Personalized medicine improves health management promotion and disease prevention by revealing a person’s inherited susceptibilities to certain illnesses, allowing for earlier and more precise treatments. By proactively addressing each patient’s specific genetic risks, healthcare practitioners can design preventative medicines, lifestyle modifications, wellness programs, and dietary recommendations to lower the likelihood of disease onset.

The future of personalized medicine

Exciting medical advancements in personalized treatment are emerging through the analysis of multi-disciplinary data, individual medical histories, social influences, and environmental factors. Genomic research and sophisticated data analytics are expected to pave the way for earlier interventions, more precise illness detection, and better treatments tailored to each individual’s genetic profile.

Advances in artificial intelli

gence are speeding up progress on disease risk prediction, treatment planning, and diagnosis. Future success depends on a wide range of groups leveraging the discoveries of researchers at universities, pharmaceutical firms, and diagnostics companies.

Meanwhile, physicians, advocacy groups, insurance companies, and consumers try to make the most of innovation that’s occurring on a global scale.

Finding the right team

Florida Medical Clinic Orlando Health is among the healthcare facilities providing broader access to personalized medicine, allowing more people to have better access to state-

of-the-art precision healthcare.

We’re proud to have more than 30 specialty departments, each staffed with providers who have additional experience and expertise in their chosen specialty. Our Internal Medicine team is uniquely positioned to provide:

• Diagnostic services and treatment for most common injuries and illnesses.
• Long-term medical management of chronic conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
• Preventive care counseling.

The internal medicine specialists at Florida

Medical Clinic Orlando Health can provide individualized treatment plans so patients can investigate innovative treatments developed to address their unique health concerns. Contact us today for more information regarding how these new methods can improve your health.

Meet Dr. Sheth

Dr. Sagar Sheth is an enthusiastic expert in internal medicine who places a premium on preventive care, holistic approaches, weight loss, and the management of chronic diseases. He combines his substantial academic knowledge with practical expertise to provide individualized, patient-centered care.

Dr. Sheth advocates against polypharmacy — when a patient is prescribed several medications at the same time — and contributes to medical education to help shape healthcare’s future. He scrupulously avoids prescribing unnecessary medications.

When he’s not working, he loves to travel, hang out with his loved ones, and play sports like tennis, golf, and basketball.

Request an appointment with Dr. Sheth on our website or call (813) 751-3700 today.