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.
See also alternative medicine;
chemotherapy;
holistic medicine;
hydrotherapy;
nuclear medicine;
occupational therapy;
physical medicine and rehabilitation;
psychotherapy;
respiratory therapy.
For more information on
therapeutics,
visit Britannica.com.
