A medical treatment is any care given to someone who is sick or injured. Typically, doctors treat people with medicines and/or surgical procedures. However, many people receive treatment from nonphysicians, such as nurses and dentists. Treatment can also include physical therapy and even acupuncture. Some diseases, like leprosy and syringomyelia, are so severe that they do not cause any symptoms, but may still need medical treatment. Others are accompanied by a range of uncomfortable sensations, such as itching and nausea. Still others, like AIDS and hepatitis C, are so dangerous that they are usually treated with strong medicines with unpleasant side effects.
People with serious illnesses sometimes become unable to make decisions on their own, especially when they are in a state such as delirium or coma. In those cases, doctors may ask a next of kin or the holder of a health care power of attorney to help them decide whether to accept a certain treatment. Doctors often weigh the risks of different treatments against their effectiveness in a particular patient. Some new medications, such as chemotherapies and bone marrow transplants, have powerful side effects. It is important that any such treatments be tested in a controlled clinical trial before they can be used widely.
Doctors can use a variety of tests to diagnose a person’s condition and then prescribe the best course of medical treatment for them. Diagnostic procedures can include blood and urine tests, X-rays of the skin or other body parts, and endoscopies. Endoscopies involve inserting a slender tube (endoscope) into the body to take visual images of the inside. Examples of endoscopies are colonoscopy, gastroscopy, cystoscopy and bronchoscopy.
Using a number of different techniques, doctors can remove dead or damaged cells from the body, repair wounds and other injuries, and treat infections. Other types of medical treatment include removing a foreign object from the eye, administering anesthesia to prevent pain during surgery or other procedures, and scrubbing away gangrene tissue.
Some patients with life-threatening conditions can feel desperate to try anything that might improve their chances of survival. It is better, however, for them to seek out a clinical trial of a new treatment that has been carefully tested and has the potential to save lives. This can be done only if people understand that even though a new treatment might have some side effects, it is much better to be alive than to die from untreated illness. This is why doctors are working so hard to develop new medicines that have fewer side effects and are as effective as possible.