What is the general approach to therapy when making decisions about diagnostic tests and therapeutic interventions?
The writing committee has constructed these guidelines from the perspective that when making decisions about diagnostic tests and therapeutic interventions, their potential effects on improving survival and health status should be considered independently. Although treatment choices often are intended to achieve both goals simultaneously, circumstances exist in which a treatment is administered in pursuit of only one of these goals. For example, when pharmacotherapy such as aspirin or angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors is prescribed, the goal is to improve survival but not necessarily quality of life. Similarly, revascularization can be performed to improve symptoms, even when there is no expectation of improved survival.