Pharmacotherapy

Pharmacotherapy is the medical use of drugs to diagnose, treat, prevent, or palliate health conditions. It involves selecting appropriate medications, determining dosing regimens and routes of administration, defining the duration of therapy, and monitoring response and safety. Clinicians base pharmacotherapy on clinical guidelines, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles, and patient-specific factors such as age, weight, organ function, pregnancy status, comorbidities, and potential drug–drug interactions.

Key elements include establishing therapeutic objectives, balancing benefits and risks, and choosing regimens that maximize efficacy while minimizing harm. Considerations include adherence, safety monitoring, dose titration, and adjustments for interactions or organ impairment. Drug categories used span antimicrobials, analgesics, cardiovascular agents, psychotropic medicines, immunotherapies, among others, with routes of administration including oral, intravenous, intramuscular, topical, inhaled, or implanted devices.

Safety and monitoring are essential components. Clinicians track therapeutic response, adverse drug reactions, laboratory parameters, and potential drug interactions. Pharmacovigilance systems collect real-world safety data to improve practice. Education and shared decision making support adherence and informed choices. In some cases, pharmacotherapy requires therapeutic drug monitoring to keep drug levels within a target range, particularly for agents with narrow therapeutic indices or significant pharmacokinetic variability.