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Salvage Therapy
Salvage therapy, also known as rescue therapy, is a form of therapy given after an ailment does not respond to standard therapy. The most common diseases that require salvage therapy are HIV and various cancers. The term is not clearly defined; it is used both to mean a second attempt and a final attempt. Salvage therapy drugs or drug combinations have, in general, much more severe side effects than the standard line of therapy. This is often true of a drug of last resort. Uses HIV Antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) are given to slow down the HIV reproduction, which in turn increases quality of life and survival. If the patient's viral load (the amount of HIV in the blood) rebounds after being suppressed by ARVs, the virus has likely developed resistance to the ARVs. As more and more mutations conferring drug resistance develop in the HIV's genome, it becomes difficult to select an ARV that will meaningfully suppress HIV replication and keep the patient's viral load low. Salvage ther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Therapy
A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different types of therapy. Not all therapies are effective. Many therapies can produce unwanted adverse effects. ''Medical treatment'' and ''therapy'' are generally considered synonyms. However, in the context of mental health, the term ''therapy'' may refer specifically to psychotherapy. History Before the creating of therapy as a formal procedure, people told stories to one another to inform and assist about the world. The term "healing through words" was used over 3,500 years ago in Greek and Egyptian writing. The term psychotherapy was invented in the 19th century, and psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud under a decade later. Semantic field The words ''care'', ''therapy'', ''treatment'', and ''intervention'' overlap in a s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cancers
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible Cancer signs and symptoms, signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss, and a change in defecation, bowel movements. While these symptoms may indicate cancer, they can also have other causes. Over List of cancer types, 100 types of cancers affect humans. Tobacco use is the cause of about 22% of cancer deaths. Another 10% are due to obesity, poor Diet (nutrition), diet, sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical activity or Alcohol abuse, excessive drinking of alcohol. Other factors include certain infections, exposure to ionizing radiation, and environmental pollutants. In the Developing country, developing world, 15% of cancers are due to infections such as ''Helicobacter pylori'', hepat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drug Of Last Resort
A drug of last resort (DoLR), also known as a heroic dose, is a pharmaceutical drug which is tried after all other drug options have failed to produce an adequate response in the patient. Drug resistance, such as antimicrobial resistance or antineoplastic resistance, may make the first-line drug ineffective, especially with multidrug-resistant pathogens or tumors. Such an alternative may be outside of extant regulatory requirements or medical best practices, in which case it may be viewed as salvage therapy. Purposes The use of a drug of last resort may be based on agreement among members of a patient's care network, including physicians and healthcare professionals across multiple specialties, or on a patient's desire to pursue a particular course of treatment and a practitioner's willingness to administer that course. Certain situations such as severe bacterial related sepsis or septic shock can more commonly lead to last resorts. Therapies considered to be drugs of last reso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antiretroviral Drug
The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of multiple drugs that act on different viral targets is known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). HAART decreases the patient's total burden of HIV, maintains function of the immune system, and prevents opportunistic infections that often lead to death. HAART also prevents the transmission of HIV between serodiscordant same sex and opposite sex partners so long as the HIV-positive partner maintains an undetectable viral load. Treatment has been so successful that in many parts of the world, HIV has become a chronic condition in which progression to AIDS is increasingly rare. Anthony Fauci, head of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has written, "With collective and resolute action now and a steadfa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health". Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it has six regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide. The WHO was established on 7 April 1948. The first meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the agency's governing body, took place on 24 July of that year. The WHO incorporated the assets, personnel, and duties of the League of Nations' Health Organization and the , including the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Its work began in earnest in 1951 after a significant infusion of financial and technical resources. The WHO's mandate seeks and includes: working worldwide to promote health, keeping the world safe, and serve the vulnerable. It advocates that a billion more people should have: universal health care coverag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Resistance To Antiviral Drugs
Drug resistance is the reduction in effectiveness of a medication such as an antimicrobial or an antineoplastic in treating a disease or condition. The term is used in the context of resistance that pathogens or cancers have "acquired", that is, resistance has evolved. Antimicrobial resistance and antineoplastic resistance challenge clinical care and drive research. When an organism is resistant to more than one drug, it is said to be multidrug-resistant. The development of antibiotic resistance in particular stems from the drugs targeting only specific bacterial molecules (almost always proteins). Because the drug is ''so'' specific, any mutation in these molecules will interfere with or negate its destructive effect, resulting in antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, there is mounting concern over the abuse of antibiotics in the farming of livestock, which in the European Union alone accounts for three times the volume dispensed to humans – leading to development of super-resi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protease Inhibitor (pharmacology)
Protease inhibitors (PIs) are medications that act by interfering with enzymes that cleave proteins. Some of the most well known are antiviral drugs widely used to treat HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. These protease inhibitors prevent viral replication by selectively binding to viral proteases (e.g. HIV-1 protease) and blocking proteolytic cleavage of protein precursors that are necessary for the production of infectious viral particles. Protease inhibitors that have been developed and are currently used in clinical practice include: * Antiretroviral HIV-1 protease inhibitors—class stem ** Amprenavir ** Atazanavir ** Darunavir ** Fosamprenavir ** Indinavir ** Lopinavir ** Nelfinavir ** Ritonavir ** Saquinavir ** Tipranavir * Hepatitis C virus NS3/ 4A protease inhibitors—class stem ** Asunaprevir ** Boceprevir ** Grazoprevir ** Glecaprevir ** Paritaprevir ** Simeprevir ** Telaprevir * Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 3-chymotrypsin-like protease inhibitors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherapy may be given with a curative intent (which almost always involves combinations of drugs) or it may aim to prolong life or to reduce symptoms ( palliative chemotherapy). Chemotherapy is one of the major categories of the medical discipline specifically devoted to pharmacotherapy for cancer, which is called ''medical oncology''. The term ''chemotherapy'' has come to connote non-specific usage of intracellular poisons to inhibit mitosis (cell division) or induce DNA damage, which is why inhibition of DNA repair can augment chemotherapy. The connotation of the word chemotherapy excludes more selective agents that block extracellular signals (signal transduction). The development of therapies with specific molecular or genetic targets, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heroic Measure
In medicine, heroic treatment or course of therapy is one which possesses a high risk of causing further damage to a patient's health, but is undertaken as a last resort with the understanding that any lesser treatment will surely result in failure. Heroic measures are often taken in cases of grave injury or illness, as a last-ditch attempt to save life, limb, or eyesight. Examples include emergency trauma surgery conducted outside the operating room (such as "on-scene" surgical amputation, cricothyroidotomy, or thoracotomy), or administration of medication (such as certain antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs) at dosage levels high enough to potentially cause serious or fatal side effects. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a particularly well-known heroic measure; vigorous chest compressions often result in fracturing one or more of the patient's ribs, but since the alternative is certain death, the technique is accepted as necessary. Patients with advanced AIDS and co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linda Grinberg
Linda Gwen Grinberg (May 26, 1951 – May 27, 2002) was an American film librarian and HIV/AIDS activist, based in Los Angeles. Early life and education Grinberg was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of film executive Sherman Grinberg and Edna Trachtenberg Grinberg. She graduated from California State University, Northridge. Career Grinberg was CEO of the Sherman Grinberg Film Libraries, "the world's largest independent film news and stock footage library". She was a co-founder and vice-president of the International Documentary Association. Grinberg sold the film archive in the 1990s to focus her full-time attentions on HIV/AIDS activism and fundraising. She served on the board of Project Inform, was founder of the Coalition for Salvage Therapy, co-founder of the FAIR Pricing Coalition, and founder and president of the Foundation for AIDS and Immune Research (FAIR). She helped to lead a broad coalition of patients, activists, and medical practitioners, concerned for expe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
