Medical Hypotheses
Volume 53, Issue 1 , Pages 24-31, July 1999

Pathological homeostasis: its meaning, its inferences

Fondation Ophtalmologique A. de Rothschild, 25-29 rue Manin, Paris, F-75930, France

Received 26 May 1997; accepted 23 December 1997.

Abstract 

The notion of ‘pathological homeostasis’ (PH) allows a better understanding of the escape phenomena to the effects of a therapy, as suggested by experimental researches. This concept refers to mechanisms we already know as desensitization, mutation, etc. Moreover, it focuses on the following possibility: in a couple of antagonistic agents, the already prevalent one will increase even more so that it could cancel the therapeutic effect of the administered opposite agent. PH is also defined as a change in the norms of the cell regulation or of the great systems of regulation in the body. In order to neutralize this occurrence, the PH notion may open up on new experimental studies and therapeutical strategies.

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PII: S0306-9877(97)90705-2

doi:10.1054/mehy.1997.0705

Medical Hypotheses
Volume 53, Issue 1 , Pages 24-31, July 1999

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