Treatment and care to combat disease or alleviate pain or injury. Its tools include drugs, surgery, radiation therapy, mechanical devices, diet, and psychiatry.
Treatment may be active, to cure a disease (requiring no further treatment after recovery), treat it long-term, or heal a wound; symptomatic, to relieve symptoms until the immune system heals the body; supportive, to keep body functions going until the disease clears; or palliative, to minimize discomfort for patients with no chance of recovery. It almost always includes prevention, usually tertiary (&see; preventive medicine). Therapeutic measures can be chosen, combined, and tailored based on accurate diagnosis to fit each patient. &Seealso; alternative medicine; chemotherapy; holistic medicine; hydrotherapy; nuclear medicine; occupational therapy; physical medicine and rehabilitation; psychotherapy; respiratory therapy.
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