International Journal of Clinical Case Reports 2024, Vol.14, No.2, 107-116 http://medscipublisher.com/index.php/ijccr 113 metabolism. This decision-making process, based on individual genetic information, demonstrates the power of personalized medicine and reflects the future trend of precision medicine. 3 Challenges and Opportunities 3.1 Challenges faced 3.1.1 Data privacy and security challenges Genomic data contains a vast amount of personal sensitive information; thus, ensuring its security and privacy is a critical issue that needs immediate resolution (Hekel et al., 2021). On one hand, data breaches could lead to personal privacy violations and potentially severe economic and social losses. On the other hand, secure storage and transmission of data require high-standard technical support. Therefore, developing comprehensive data protection mechanisms and legal regulations to ensure the security and privacy of patient information throughout the collection, storage, processing, and sharing processes is an urgent issue to address. 3.1.2 Complexity of genomic data interpretation The interpretation of genomic data involves multiple fields such as biology, statistics, and computer science. Its complexity lies in the large volume of data and its intricate meanings, necessitating specialized knowledge and technology for accurate interpretation. Moreover, the relationship between genes and diseases is not always one-to-one; many diseases may be influenced by multiple genes and environmental factors. Thus, extracting useful information from complex genomic data and correctly interpreting the relationship between gene variations and health is a significant challenge. 3.1.3 Cost-effectiveness issues Although personalized medicine promises more accurate diagnostics and treatments for patients, its high costs remain a significant barrier to widespread adoption. The high costs include not only genomic sequencing itself but also subsequent data analysis, medical consultations, and other processes. This makes personalized treatments unaffordable for many patients, thus limiting the broad application of this technology. 3.1.4 Legal, ethical, and social acceptability Personalized medicine involves numerous ethical and legal issues (Walker et al., 2021), including but not limited to: ethical boundaries of gene editing, obtaining patient informed consent, and issues regarding the ownership and use rights of genetic information (Quattrocchi et al., 2019). Additionally, the social acceptability of personalized medicine varies; some patients may have reservations about genetic testing, fearing that the results could affect their future insurance purchases or job opportunities. Therefore, how to promote technological development while resolving these legal and ethical issues, as well as enhancing public awareness and acceptance, is also a current challenge. 3.2 Opportunities in technology and policy On the path of developing personalized medicine, technological advancements and policy support have opened new doors, offering opportunities not only to overcome existing challenges but also to drive the field toward a broader future. 3.2.1 Opportunities in technological advancements With the rapid development of big data technologies and AI, we are now able to process and analyze large volumes of genomic data like never before. These technologies help us more accurately identify disease-related genetic markers, enhancing the accuracy of disease predictions and thus providing patients with more personalized prevention and treatment plans. The advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has significantly reduced the cost and time of genetic sequencing, making large-scale genomic sequencing feasible. This provides a technological guarantee for quickly and accurately identifying individual genetic differences.
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