[Molecular medicine--perspectives for anesthesiology and intensive care medicine]

The past few decades have seen a profound development in biological sciences. The great progress in molecular biology has provided an enormous potential of new instruments for highly specific and sensitive insights into the etiology and therapy of human disease. Among these first the prototype technique "polymerase chain reaction" (PCR) results in improved diagnostic procedures. The contributions of recombinant DNA technology in defining the molecular pathology of common disorders and of diagnostic molecular techniques for risk stratification are used as examples to reveal the clinical relevance of this innovative tool and its modifications. In addition, the potential use of modified nucleic acid fragments as a therapeutic drug (gene therapy) is mentioned.