Therapeutics
Therapeutics is the branch of medicine concerned with treating disease and relieving symptoms through drugs, procedures, and other interventions.
Pharmacodynamics: The study of how drugs affect the body, including their effects and mechanisms of action. It explains how medicines produce therapeutic effects and adverse effects.
Diagnosis: The identification of a disease or condition from signs, symptoms, and evidence. Treatment decisions begin with identifying the condition being addressed.
Pharmacotherapy: The treatment of disease with medications. It is the drug-based part of therapeutic practice.
Preventive medicine: The branch of medicine focused on preventing disease and promoting health before illness occurs. It contrasts treatment after illness with efforts to avert illness.
Antimicrobial resistance: The ability of microorganisms to survive or grow despite exposure to antimicrobial medicines. Inappropriate or excessive antimicrobial use can make future infections harder to treat.
Pharmacokinetics: The study of how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and eliminates drugs. It determines how much drug reaches its target and for how long.
Prognosis: An estimate of the likely course and outcome of a disease. Expected outcomes help determine whether treatment is worthwhile.
Surgery: The treatment of disease or injury through operative procedures. Procedures can remove, repair, or alter affected tissues.
Curative treatment: Treatment intended to eliminate a disease rather than merely control it or relieve its effects. It is one possible therapeutic goal, not the definition of all treatment.
Polypharmacy: The concurrent use of multiple medications, often with increased risks of interactions and adverse effects. Complex regimens can turn therapeutic benefit into avoidable harm.