Physicians have had little incentive to order genetic tests for their Parkinson’s disease patients, although evidence suggests that up to 15% of these cases may be genetic.
“Mutations in several different genes increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease,” says Roy N. Alcalay, MD, MS, the Alfred and Minnie Bressler Associate Professor of Neurology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and a neurologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Until recently, we rarely offered genetic testing for people with Parkinson’s because the benefit had been unclear.”
But recent studies have shown that genotype can help better estimate the rate of disease progression in Parkinson’s. And as new drugs designed for people with specific Parkinson’s genes have entered clinical trials (including one at Columbia University Irving Medical Center), Alcalay realized the calculus has changed.
Ashkenazi Jewish Heritage: Genetics and Parkinson’s
Young onset Parkinson’s patient 
Cough syrup for Parkinson’s patients
