Senn H J
Department of Medicine C (Onco-Hematology), Kantonsspital, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Support Care Cancer. 1993 Sep;1(5):230-2. doi: 10.1007/BF00366040.
The 500th anniversary of the birth of the famous Swiss physician and philosopher, Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim--called Paracelsus, in the fall of 1993 provides an excellent opportunity to review some of his thoughts and teachings and to reflect upon their timeless meaning for present-day medical research and patient care, especially in the sometimes controversial field of supportive care in oncology. Most probably Paracelsus' call for the abandonment of the encrusted dogmatic Galenism and his fight for a new spirit of experimental investigation by sound empirical studies was well ahead of his time in the early Renaissance. However, his concept of diseases as specific entities, relating to specific anatomical sites and possessing distinct and reproducible natural courses, was nearly prophetic, while still leaving room enough for individual variations. His views are somehow illustrative of modern psychosomatic medicine and comprehensive "holistic" supportive and palliative care, realized only after a very long "doctor's delay" at the close of the twentieth century.
1993年秋，著名瑞士医生兼哲学家特奥弗拉斯图斯·博姆巴斯图斯·冯·霍恩海姆（即人们所称的帕拉塞尔苏斯）诞辰500周年，这为我们回顾他的一些思想和学说，并思考其对当今医学研究和患者护理的永恒意义提供了绝佳契机，尤其是在肿瘤学支持治疗这个有时颇具争议的领域。在文艺复兴早期，帕拉塞尔苏斯呼吁摒弃陈腐的盖伦派教条主义，并通过可靠的实证研究争取实验研究新精神，这很可能远远超越了他所处的时代。然而，他将疾病视为特定实体，与特定解剖部位相关且具有独特和可重复的自然病程的概念，几乎具有预言性，同时仍为个体差异留出了足够空间。他的观点在某种程度上说明了现代心身医学以及全面的“整体”支持性和姑息性护理，而这些直到20世纪末经过漫长的“医生延误”后才得以实现。
