Areteo de Capadocia (siglo II d. C.) y las primeras descripciones neurológicas / Arataeus of Cappadocia (2nd century ad) and the earliest neurological descriptions
Artigo
em Espanhol
| IBECS (Espanha) | ID: ibc-128075
Introducción y desarrollo. Posiblemente contemporáneo de Galeno, Areteo de Capadocia está considerado como uno de los mejores médicos clínicos de la Antigüedad. Nada se sabe de su biografía, excepto la referencia constante a su probable lugar de nacimiento, Capadocia. Se conserva (aunque de forma incompleta) su Obra médica, uno de los tratados de medicina más importantes e influyentes de la medicina grecolatina. Consta de ocho libros, en los que se describen de forma ordenada y precisa la etiología, sintomatología y terapéutica de las enfermedades agudas y crónicas. Del libro I faltan varios capítulos, dedicados, posiblemente, a temas neurológicos (frenitis, letargia, marasmo y apoplejía). En el libro III se incluyen la cefalea, el escotoma, la epilepsia, la melancolía, la locura y la parálisis. Conclusiones. Areteo destaca siempre por su capacidad de observación y lo completo de sus descripciones nosográficas, por lo que, en muchos casos, como la jaqueca o la epilepsia, sus relatos se consideran fundacionales. Máximo representante de la escuela neumática en cuanto a la etiología, Areteo añade un quinto elemento a la clásica estequiología griega, el pneuma (espíritu), que lo penetra todo y cuya alteración será causa de las enfermedades (AU)
Introduction and development. Aretaeus of Cappadocia, who was possibly a contemporary of Galen, is considered to have been one of the best clinical physicians of the Ancient World. Nothing is known of his biography, except for constant references to his probable place of birth, Cappadocia. His Extant Works, one of the most important and influential treaties on Greco-Roman medicine, has survived to our days (although it is incomplete). It consists of eight books, in which he gives an orderly and precise account of the aetiology, symptomatology and therapeutics of acute and chronic diseases. Several chapters, possibly devoted to neurological matters (phrenitis, lethargy, wasting and apoplexy), are missing from Book I. Book III includes matters such as headaches, scotoma, epilepsy, melancholy, madness and paralysis. Conclusions. Aretaeus has always stood out for his capacity for observation as well as the thoroughness of his nosographic descriptions, which in many cases, like migraine or epilepsy, has led to his accounts being considered as seminal works. As the leading representative of the pneumatic school as far as aetiology is concerned, Aretaeus added a fifth element to the classical Greek stoichiology, pneuma (spirit), which permeates everything and, when altered, gives rise to diseases (AU)