Tratamento da asma: o que podemos aprender com um médico do século XVI
Asthma treatment: what we can learn from a 16th-century physician
Raul Emrich Melo
Resumo
Girolamo Cardano, médico italiano do Renascimento, descreveu em suas memórias o tratamento detalhado de um arcebispo escocês que apresentava, havia mais de 10 anos, um quadro de asma grave. O tratamento, sem paralelo na história da Medicina até então, foi um verdadeiro sucesso, ajudando a firmar o nome de Cardano como um dos mais lidos e admirados personagens dos séculos XVI e XVII. Uma possível interpretação para a melhora significativa apresentada pelo paciente seria a resposta a uma medida de higiene ambiental antialérgica: a retirada do quarto de todo material que contivesse penas (colchão, mantas e travesseiros). No entanto, a análise detalhada do relato (excluindo-se a terapia medicamentosa, por não ter nenhum respaldo científico), faz surgir uma nova interpretação, pois a reeducação comportamental implementada foi surpreendente. Muitas das medidas defendidas por Cardano foram inovadoras para a época e, curiosamente, encontram ressonância na Hipótese da Biodiversidade, a mais recente tentativa de explicar a escalada da alergia e das doenças inflamatórias a partir de meados do século XX. A perseguição pela Inquisição, associada às críticas de irreligiosidade e possível retrocesso em sua capacidade mental, provavelmente impediram que o médico italiano fosse lembrado nos dias de hoje. O caso descrito nos relembra, em um momento de afã por novas medicações para asma, junto a tempos exageradamente curtos de consulta, que as medidas de orientação e educação podem ter um impacto significativo, chegando mesmo a se equiparar à terapêutica medicamentosa.
Palavras-chave
Abstract
Girolamo Cardano, an Italian physician of the Renaissance, described in his memoirs the detailed treatment of a Scottish archbishop who had had severe asthma for more than 10 years. The treatment, unparalleled in the history of Medicine until then, was truly successful, helping to establish the name of Cardano as one of the most read and admired characters of the 16th and 17th centuries. A possible interpretation for the significant improvement presented by the patient is the response to an anti-allergic environmental hygiene measure: removing from the room all material containing feathers (mattress, comforters, and pillows). However, a detailed analysis of the report (excluding the drug therapy, which has no scientific support) gives rise to a new interpretation, as the implemented behavioral re-education measure was surprising. Many of the measures advocated by Cardano were innovative for the time and, interestingly, find resonance in the Biodiversity Hypothesis, the most recent attempt to explain the escalation of allergy and inflammatory diseases initiating in the mid-20th century. Persecution by the Inquisition, associated with criticisms of irreligiousness and possible retrogression in his mental capacity, probably prevented the Italian physician from being remembered today. The described case reminds us, in a moment of anxiety for new asthma medications, together with exaggeratedly short consultation times, that guidance and education measures can have a significant impact, possibly reaching the same level as drug therapy
Keywords
References
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Submitted date:
11/03/2020
Accepted date:
11/09/2020
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