Wiesing Urban
Institut für Ethik und Geschichte der Medizin, Gartenstr. 47, 72074, Tübingen, Germany.
Med Health Care Philos. 2019 Dec;22(4):593-597. doi: 10.1007/s11019-019-09898-3.
Theranostics or theragnostics are new terms which start to appear occasionally in publications from 2001 onwards, with a marked increase in references from 2011. In the last few years more than 1100 articles using this term were published each year. In 2011 the journal Theranostics was founded. This paper addresses the question of whether this new term is appropriate. The etymology of the term is analysed. A literature search for definitions of "theranostics" is carried out and the definitions examined as to whether they give grounds for justifying the use of a new term. The differences between diagnostics and therapy are explored. A broad and a narrow definition are found. According to the broad definition theranostics provides a closer relationship between diagnostics and therapy. According to the narrow definition diagnostics and therapy become a single intervention. On closer examination it turns out that in the narrow definition the diagnostics capacities are limited to monitoring. Neither the broad nor the narrow definition actually demonstrate a new concept in medicine. Rather, they describe the well-known practice of medical decision making. In this respect, the new term cannot be justified. The level of diagnostics is new (molecular/nano) but not the relationship between diagnostics and therapy. The term theranostics is misleading as it obscures the existing differences between diagnostics and therapy and wrongly insinuates that steps between diagnostics and therapy could be omitted.
治疗诊断学或诊疗一体化是自2001年起开始偶尔出现在出版物中的新术语，自2011年起参考文献显著增加。在过去几年中，每年有超过1100篇使用该术语的文章发表。2011年，《治疗诊断学》杂志创刊。本文探讨了这个新术语是否恰当的问题。分析了该术语的词源。对“治疗诊断学”的定义进行了文献检索，并检查这些定义是否为使用新术语提供了正当理由。探讨了诊断与治疗之间的差异。发现了一个广义定义和一个狭义定义。根据广义定义，治疗诊断学在诊断与治疗之间建立了更紧密的联系。根据狭义定义，诊断和治疗成为一种单一干预。仔细研究后发现，在狭义定义中，诊断能力仅限于监测。广义定义和狭义定义实际上都没有在医学中展示一个新概念。相反，它们描述了医学决策的常见做法。在这方面，这个新术语是不合理的。诊断水平是新的（分子/纳米），但诊断与治疗之间的关系并非如此。治疗诊断学这个术语具有误导性，因为它模糊了诊断与治疗之间现有的差异，并错误地暗示可以省略诊断与治疗之间的步骤。
