“Our success in slowing the progression of HIV
disease, coupled with our parallel success in preventing
most of the opportunistic infections that we once saw
in patients with well advanced disease, have bequeathed
us an ever-growing population of extensively pretreated
patients. Many of these patients are therapeutic veterans
who have prevailed through monotherapy, dual therapy,
the advent of protease inhibitors and the NNRTIs, and
several temporarily effective multi-drug regimens. Some
of them have survived serial hospitalizations; more have
taken a planned or unplanned drug holiday; and all have
accommodated themselves to the ever-present and not inconsequential
side effects of chronic antiretroviral therapy."
”This patient population presents a unique challenge to the clinician.
The management of these long-term survivors requires a high degree of individualization,
constant vigilance, and a certain amount of educated guesswork. Here therapeutic
guidelines of the sort promulgated by the U.S. Public Health Service and I.A.S.-U.S.A.
are of limited help. Our purpose in convening this symposium is to help healthcare
providers develop strategies for maintaining the clinical stability and the overall
quality of life of this steadily expanding group of patients.”
