Background: Personalized and individualized medicine is becoming increasingly relevant in actual
discussions on the future of healthcare. While the term ‘personalized’ is mainly used
for the orientation of medicine toward individual genetic and molecular characteristics
of a person, others have located and embedded the concept of PM in the framework of
integrative medicine taking into account that patient-centered healthcare not only
focuses on biological but also on mental, sociocultural and spiritual aspects of the
patient.
Aim: Based on a review of current research and literature, we aimed at illuminating the
practice, the historical foundations, and some scientific questions concerning homeopathy
in the context of individualized medicine.
Materials and Methods: We searched the databases PubMed and Google Scholar for publications concerning homeopathy
in the context of individualized medicine. Articles were sub-divided into theoretical
works (i.e., historical notes of Hahnemann), basic research and clinical research
and then condensed.
Results: Taking a historic look at the homeopathic understanding of sickness and disease,
a dichotomy between a “specific” (Hahnemann’s considerations on “diseases with a constant
character”) and individualized approach becomes evident. This dichotomy is also reflected
in clinical and preclinical research. Clinical homeopathy is easier to fit in the
scheme of a common randomized controlled trial since a certain complex of symptoms
is attributed to a certain remedy, which can be tested against placebo. In preclinical
research, individualized test designs were found to be difficult. At present, preclinical
test systems for individualized homeopathy have been used only for human ex vivo in
vitro systems.
Discussion: Homeopathy involving individualization as well as generalization is very well suited
to serve as an example to test different methodological approaches to study individualized
medicine. Our short review implies that further investigations should be done to move
research forward in this field.
Keywords: Diseases with a constant character, individualized medicine, basic research, clinical
research
