The starting dose of a drug determines both onset of action and tolerability of the compound. In contrast to most drug therapies, which may immediately be started with regular maintenance doses, compounds undergoing substantial autoinduction (e.g. ...

In the treatment of arterial hypertension different dosing strategies like slow dose escalation at the beginning of antihypertensive therapy and gradual dose taper or abrupt withdrawal of drugs may be appropriate. In general treatment should be initiated ...

As a multi-system disease, chronic heart failure requires a complex, multimodal therapy. Achieving maximum guideline adherence in (advanced) chronic heart failure can therefore become a challenge. The important decrease in morbidity and mortality seen ...

Secondary prevention in patients with coronary heart disease includes treatment with platelet inhibitors, β-blockers, ACE inhibitors or AT₁-blockers, and statins. Initiation of therapy generally does not require a slow gradual dose increase. In treatment ...

Anticoagulants and anti-platelet drugs are essential and widely used therapeutic tools in modern cardiovascular medicine. However, the initiation of anti-thrombotic therapies, their termination, or transient discontinuation (e.g. for surgical procedures) ...

In the treatment of asthma and COPD for two drug classes slowly increasing starting doses or tapering at the end of therapy is required: In the case of allergen specific immunotherapy (desensitisation) with allergen extracts gradual increases of doses are ...

The knowledge of diagnostic procedures and therapy of depressive disorders is very important for every physician because of the high incidence of the disease. Particularly with regard to the critical phases of therapy, onset and discontinuation of ...

Pain therapy is one of the basic tasks of a clinician. Good knowlegde of the active profile of prescribed analgesics as well as their side effects will facilitate their use and decrease undesired effects. This article discusses currently used analgesics, ...

The indication and management of an appropriate therapy with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) requires an individualized diagnostic evaluation considering the clinical situation. Based on the current scientific data the therapeutic options and special aspects ...