The recent explosion in genetics has left clinicians unaware or confused in regards to how to interpret genetic testing. As testing finds increasing clinical utility among typical cases, the common approach of referral to research institutions faces increasing obstacles. For neurologists practicing outside these institutions, such referral burdens families, who may not return to the practice. The common result is inadequate quality and quantity of testing.
Currently, a main obstacle to routine genetic testing is the correlation of the thousands of genomics variants identified with the disease process in each unique patient. This requires an in-depth knowledge regarding genomics, which few clinicians possess, and of the individual patient, which testing laboratories cannot possess.