Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26229554›Full record

ArticleGenome medicine2015

So rare we need to hunt for them: reframing the ethical debate on incidental findings.

Sebastian Schuol, Christoph Schickhardt, Stefan Wiemann, Claus R Bartram, Klaus Tanner, Roland Eils, Benjamin Meder, Daniela Richter, Hanno Glimm, Christof von Kalle and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Genome medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. How Sensitive Is Genetic Data?Biopreservation and biobanking · 2017
    Article
  2. [Personalized oncology].Der Radiologe · 2017
    Review
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Sebastian SchuolEURAT Project, Department of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), University Hospital Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Christoph SchickhardtDepartment of Medical Oncology, Program for Ethics and Patient Oriented Care, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), University Hospital Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Stefan WiemannDepartment of Molecular Genome Analysis, German Research Cancer Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Claus R BartramDepartment of Human Genetics, University Hospital Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Klaus TannerDepartment of Theology, University Heidelberg, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
Roland EilsDepartment of Theoretical Bioinformatics, German Research Cancer Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Benjamin MederDepartment of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Daniela RichterDepartment of Translational Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), German Research Cancer Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Hanno GlimmDepartment of Translational Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), German Research Cancer Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Christof von KalleDepartment of Translational Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), German Research Cancer Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Eva C WinklerDepartment of Medical Oncology, Program for Ethics and Patient Oriented Care, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), University Hospital Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Incidental findings are the subject of intense ethical debate in medical genomic research. Every human genome contains a number of potentially disease-causing alterations that may be detected during comprehensive genetic analyses to investigate a specific condition. Yet available evidence shows that the frequency of incidental findings in research is much lower than expected. In this Opinion, we argue that the reason for the low level of incidental findings is that the filtering techniques and methods that are applied during the routine handling of genomic data remove these alterations. As incidental findings are systematically filtered out, it is now time to evaluate whether the ethical debate is focused on the right issues. We conclude that the key question is whether to deliberately target and search for disease-causing variations outside the indication that has originally led to the genetic analysis, for instance by using positive lists and algorithms.

Identifiers

PMID26229554
PMCPMC4520017

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.