{"id":2215,"date":"2026-08-07T15:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T15:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/?p=2215"},"modified":"2026-08-07T15:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T15:18:09","slug":"the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2026\/08\/07\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\/","title":{"rendered":"The British Society for Genetic Medicine guidance on managing incidental findings identified during rare disease genomic testing (Contributed by Dr Sian Ellard)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Genomic testing for people affected by rare diseases will occasionally identify a gene variant or other finding that is not related to the reason for testing. This guidance on managing such \u201cincidental findings\u201d has been developed to support the specialist genomics workforce within the national health services in the UK and Ireland. It describes the principles of reporting incidental gene variants if there is a high likelihood of developing the disease and available treatment likely to improve the outcome. Our overarching objective is to facilitate greater consistency in the reporting of incidental findings to patients and their families. (<a href=\"https:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2026\/08\/06\/jmg-2026-111522\">https:\/\/jmg.bmj.com\/content\/early\/2026\/08\/06\/jmg-2026-111522<\/a>)<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Genomic testing for people affected by rare diseases will occasionally identify a gene variant or other finding that is not related to the reason for testing. This guidance on managing such \u201cincidental findings\u201d has been developed to support the specialist genomics workforce within the national health services in the UK and Ireland. It describes the [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2026\/08\/07\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The British Society for Genetic Medicine guidance on managing incidental findings identified during rare disease genomic testing (Contributed by Dr Sian Ellard) - JMG Contact blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2026\/08\/07\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The British Society for Genetic Medicine guidance on managing incidental findings identified during rare disease genomic testing (Contributed by Dr Sian Ellard) - JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Genomic testing for people affected by rare diseases will occasionally identify a gene variant or other finding that is not related to the reason for testing. This guidance on managing such \u201cincidental findings\u201d has been developed to support the specialist genomics workforce within the national health services in the UK and Ireland. It describes the [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jmg\/2026\/08\/07\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JMG Contact blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T15:18:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HuiQiQu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hqqu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/07\\\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/07\\\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hqqu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be0250f8d5b52412c3e7c222dabd591b\"},\"headline\":\"The British Society for Genetic Medicine guidance on managing incidental findings identified during rare disease genomic testing (Contributed by Dr Sian Ellard)\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-07T15:18:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/07\\\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":128,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/07\\\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/07\\\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jmg\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/07\\\/the-british-society-for-genetic-medicine-guidance-on-managing-incidental-findings-identified-during-rare-disease-genomic-testing-contributed-by-dr-sian-ellard\\\/\",\"name\":\"The British Society for Genetic Medicine guidance on managing incidental findings identified during rare disease genomic testing (Contributed by Dr Sian Ellard) - 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