Paleopathology and anthropology of the renaissance: From the morbus dominorum to the alleged 'michelangelo's shoes'

A substantial difference exists between contemporary medicine and paleopathology, particularly in the kind of information that can be retrieved from analyzed sources. Medical practice as we presently know it consists of a series of steps: anamnesis (the taking of a patient’s medical history); physical examination (that leads to the first formulation of diagnostic hypotheses); obtaining ancillary tests (e.g., imaging, histology, genetics, etc.); establishing a diagnosis; initiation of therapy; follow up on the patient’s conditions and response to treatment; reevaluation or post-mortem assessment in certain cases (e.g. anatomical pathology or forensic medicine).