ABSTRACT
The methods of treating illness and disease as we enter the twenty-first century include the use of the following forms of therapy: (a) surgery, including organ transplantation; (b) psychotherapy; (c) physical therapy; (d) radiation, and (e) chemo or pharmacotherapy. Of these various methods, pharmacotherapy (treatment with drugs) is the most frequently used technique for treating disease, has the broadest range of application over the greatest variety of disease states, and is usually the most cost-effective and preferred treatment method. Although surgery is the preferred method of treating some ailments or disease states, when alternative methods are available, these methods (usually pharmacotherapy) will be employed first if feasible, in the initial attempt to secure satisfactory relief or control of the condition or a complete cure. As pharmacotherapy continues to improve, it is replacing other forms of treatment as the preferred method of therapy. Pharmacotherapy is, for example, increasingly becoming the treatment of choice in treating various forms of cancer, including breast cancer, replacing the use of radical surgery. Pharmacotherapy is now an effective option to surgery in the treatment of some forms of prostate disease. When cure rates or reliability of disease control by pharmacotherapy can match surgical treatment (e.g., prostate surgery or radical mastectomy), most patients will strongly prefer the chemotherapeutic approach or the use of chemotherapy combined with less radical surgical approaches.
