Conservative therapy
In medicine , conservative therapy is the treatment of a disease state with the help of drug therapy (s) and / or physical measures . In contrast to this, the surgical treatment by means of the operation of a disease state can be seen.
In most medical disciplines, both conservative and surgical forms of therapy are available for various diseases (e.g. in orthopedics for intervertebral disc prolapse , in internal medicine for coronary sclerosis, etc.). In such cases, the appropriate therapy is selected depending on the severity of a finding and the previous illnesses of the patient concerned, in mutual agreement between the treating therapist and the patient. In oncology in particular , both conservative (in this case chemotherapy and / or radiotherapy ) and surgical therapy are often used within a coordinated time frame.
Colloquially, the term conservative therapy is often used in the sense of " evidence-based medicine " (" conventional medicine "), in contrast to naturopathic therapy. However, naturopathy ultimately represents a sub-area of conservative therapy and has become increasingly important in evidence-based medicine in recent years.
In a further delimitation, the term conservative therapy is colloquially opposed to the forms of therapy used by spiritual healers , shamans and other non-medical healers.
