Are the Origins of Precision Medicine Found in the Corpus Hippocraticum?

Abstract

Precision medicine (PM) is currently placed at the center of global attention following decades of research towards the improvement of medical practice. The subject of this study was to examine whether this trend had emerged earlier, in fact if the fundamentals of PM can be traced back to the ancient Greek era. For this reason, we studied the collection of all the Hippocratic texts, called the Corpus Hippocraticum, using original translations, and attempted an interpretation of the ancient authors in the context of the modern concept of PM. The most important points located in the ancient passages were: (1) medicine in not 'absolute', thus its directions cannot be generalized to everybody, (2) each human body/organism is different and responds differently to therapy; therefore, the same treatment cannot be suitable for everybody and (3) the physician should choose the appropriate treatment, depending on the patients' individual characteristics, such as different health status and life style (activities, diet, etc.). Although the ancient 'precision medicine' is different from its modern description, the latter derived from well-established experimental conclusions, it becomes apparent that there is a common conception, aiming to achieve more effective healing by focusing on the individual.