[Chaos and fractals. Are these of interest to medical science?].

Biological systems are governed by nonlinear dynamics and often appear to be random, because the available information, though accurate, is usually incomplete. It is important to be aware of the fact that nonlinear deterministic systems can behave unpredictably in the long term. Traditional reductionism is unable to provide an adequate understanding of such systems. A more global description and explanation of forms, features and functions is required. Chaos theory and fractal geometry are of value in this respect. This article is an introduction to this relatively new field of science and mathematics.