Abstract
PURPOSE: This study evaluates the efficacy of rapid clinical exome sequencing (CES) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing for diagnosing genetic disorders in critically ill pediatric patients. METHODS: A multi-centre investigation was conducted, enrolling critically ill pediatric patients suspected of having genetic disorders from March 2019 to December 2020. Peripheral blood samples from patients and their parents were analyzed using CES (proband-parent) and mtDNA sequencing (proband-mother) based on Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology. RESULTS: The study included 44 pediatric patients (24 males, 20 females) with a median age of 27 days. The median turnaround time for genetic tests was 9.5 days. Genetic disorders were diagnosed in 25 patients (56.8%): 5 with chromosome microduplication/deletion syndromes (11.3%), 1 with UPD-related disease (2.3%), and 19 with monogenic diseases (43.2%). De novo variants were identified in nine patients (36.0%). A neonate was diagnosed with two genetic disorders due to a homozygous SLC25A20 variant and an MT-TL1 gene variation. CONCLUSION: Rapid genetic diagnosis is crucial for critically ill pediatric patients with suspected genetic disorders. CES and mtDNA sequencing offer precise and timely results, guiding treatment and reducing mortality and disability, making them suitable primary diagnostic tools.