Therapeutic Nihilism

Scleroderma: From Therapeutic Nihilism to Therapeutic Optimism

Several types of inflammatory cells infiltrate the affected tissue. Different subsets of “T” lymphocyte may be observed in different affected organs in various stages of SSc. CD4 lymphocytes are increased in the affected skin, whereas CD8 lymphocytes are found more commonly in bronchoalveolar lavage of patients who have scleroderma-related interstitial lung disease (ILD). Several autoantibodies...

Emphysema: time to say farewell to therapeutic nihilism

It is an interesting time for the management of emphysema. In this condition, destruction of lung parenchyma associated with reduced elastic recoil and dynamic airways closure produce gas trapping and increased operating lung volumes, leading to breathlessness and exercise limitation. It has historically been defined as an irreversible process, which has led to a degree of therapeutic nihilism....

Atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis, the oculostenotic reflex, and therapeutic nihilism.

Fifteen years ago, Topol and Nissen1 described the oculostenotic reflex as an “irresistible temptation ... to perform angioplasty on any significant residual stenosis,” highlighting a widely held misperception that an angiographically severe stenosis must cause ischemia and that revascularization results in clinical benefit. Although quantitative angiography improves the accuracy of stenosis se...

Logical Nihilism

Madhyamaka is Not Nihilism

Introduction Nāgārjuna (c. 200 CE) is the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy, and easily, after the Buddha himself, the most influential philosopher in the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition. Despite the great consensus on his philosophical and doctrinal importance, there is little consensus, either in the canonical Buddhist and non-Buddhist literature of India, Tibet and East Asi...