Abstract

Technological advances have allowed the survival of critically ill patients who otherwise would have inevitably died. However, many of the measures of this intensive treatment are risky and with a high material cost and human effort. Evolutionary medicine is a worldwide trend that proposes that a high number of patient alterations correspond to adaptation responses with the aim of survival and do not necessarily require their normalization. In the case of the critically ill patient, this approach is innovative and could lead to a critical medicine aimed at the recognition of these adaptive responses and their modulation. This new way of interpreting the manifestations of the disease can have important repercussions in its treatment and a more rational use of resources. The application of this paradigm can improve the results so far not optimal, in conditions such as septic shock, in which measures considered logical or rational have been ineffective. This review presents the principles of this trend, the supporting evidence, some hypotheses about its application in specific cases as well as its limitations.

Keywords: evolutionary medicine; critical care; disease; adaptation