Abstract
Personalized Medicine (PM) is an evolving and often missinterpreted concept and no agreement of personalization exist. We examined the PM discourse towards foucauldian archeological and genealogical analysis to understand the meaning of “personalization” in medicine. In the archaeological analysis, the historical evolution is characterized by the coexistence of two epistemologies: the holistic vision and the omic sciences. The genealogical analysis shows how these epistemologies may affect the meaning of “person” and, consequently, the ontology of patients. Additionally, substitutions/confusions of the term PM are related to continuously evolving medical knowledge and new technologies; different etymological roots of “personalization” and “person”; and cultural differences. In conclusion, if the definition of “personalization” in medicine is not clear, patients might get wrong expectations about what is achievable for their health. Therefore, epistemological trends should not be separated as they drive same goals: providing accurate diagnosis and treatments based on large data to predict disease progression.
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MD wrote the manuscript in consultation with FL, AC, AM, GS. AC and MD equally contributed to conceptualize the article. AM helped conceptualizing the manuscript to fully address the contents according to the reviewers’ observations. MD with support of FL searched and reviewed literature. FL insured conceptual fluency. GS initiated and supervised the project. All authors discussed and contributed to the final manuscript.
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Cesario, A., Lohmeyer, F.M., D’Oria, M. et al. The personalized medicine discourse: archaeology and genealogy. Med Health Care and Philos 24, 247–253 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-020-09997-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-020-09997-6