Such a treatment option as monotherapy is very attractive for both doctors and patients. What is it - doctors who directly carry out the treatment of various diseases know better than others. This method of treatment, in addition to the undeniable advantages, also has some disadvantages.
About monotherapy
This method implies that the treatment process will be carried out using only one drug or procedure. The expected effect of such treatment will be the full recovery of the patient or the normalization of the corrected indicators of his vital activity.
To date, monotherapy of arterial hypertension is often carried out quite often. It can be carried out using drugs from the following pharmacological groups:
- beta-blockers;
- ACE inhibitors;
- calcium channel blockers;
- diuretics.
Monotherapy (treatment with one drug) of hypertension is currently a reality. Combined drugs, which include several drugs at once, have proven themselves particularly well in this area.
Main advantages
Many are attracted to monotherapy. What is it and what is it good, they are trying to convey to the patients of the doctor. The main advantages of this treatment technique are the following facts:
- Significantly increases the likelihood that the patient will strictly comply with the doctor's recommendations for taking the drug.
- The risk of side effects is reduced.
- Compliance with the treatment process for the patient is facilitated.
- Monotherapy is a much cheaper method of treatment than those that involve taking a large number of different drugs.
Thanks to these advantages, this treatment option is being practiced by an increasing number of doctors.
About the disadvantages
The main disadvantage of this treatment is the fact that often it is not effective enough. For example, with arterial hypertension, sometimes it is not possible to achieve the necessary numbers of systolic and diastolic pressure with the help of a single remedy. Even in the process of using combined drugs, the dosage of the components contained in them is often insufficient.
Also, combination drugs often have more contraindications to their use than conventional drugs.
Monotherapy course
This treatment methodology is now recognized as the “gold standard”, in which direction most branches of medicine should move. This is due to the benefits that monotherapy has. What it is, what positive features it has - they are trying to convey to all medical workers and patients.
It has been established that only about 30% of patients correctly follow the recommendations of the attending physicians. In many cases, this is due to the fact that a person forgets when and at what time he needs to take this or that drug. Much more often this happens when the patient has to take a large number of drugs.
Many patients refuse to use several drugs at once for the reason that they can lead to the development of various side effects. The risk of their occurrence is significantly reduced in cases where monotherapy is used. What does this mean for the patient? This state of affairs determines a much rarer development of various problems associated with the work of the liver, kidneys and other organs.
The usual drug often costs less than the combined. At the same time, the cost of 2-3 such drugs will already exceed the amount that must be paid for the purchase of a modern drug that includes several active components at once. As a result, the availability of medical care for the patient again increases, since the likelihood that he will acquire and use one of the necessary drugs increases.
Currently, most healthcare organizers, including WHO leaders, are focused on the progressive development of monotherapy and its wider introduction into the daily practice of doctors and the everyday life of patients.