title: [Chaos, complexity and cardiology].
abstract: Science is an ever-changing discipline. Modern medical knowledge is based on science. Current medical paradigm is both linear and reductionist. There is a new general theory validated by computer's calculations named chaos and complexity theory. This new paradigm will probably have an impact on medical practice. Cardiovascular physiology may display fractal and/ or chaotic behavior. Computerized heart rhythm analyses enhanced our understanding of complex diseases otherwise not explainable by current linear-reductionist paradigms. Cases in point are diverse dysautonomia including orthostatic intolerance, cardiac X syndrome and fibromyalgia. Derived from this, new knowledge is a different diagnostic and therapeutic stance: scientific holism.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Reumatología del Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martínez-Lavín
mesh_terms: D002309:Cardiology; D006801:Humans; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics