Take it personally. Personalized Medicine: past, present and future

Abstract

Looking at the history of medicine use, it is clear that personalized medicine has always been practiced. Physicians took patients’ age, gender and the state of health and disease affecting major organs such as liver and kidneys into consideration when deciding to prescribe a medicine. In oncology, samples were taken from the tumor site and examined under microscope for pathological examination and then a therapeutic plan or surgery was decided based on the observations made on that sample obtained from the tumor of an individual. Therefore, personalized medicine is not a new field. It has been always here. Practitioners always took into account the mental, physical, spiritual and emotional aspects of their individual patients. Pharaohs and Kings had personal physicians so that they could receive the best possible medical care tailored to their individual needs according to standard of care of the time.