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In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequences of the use of a drug.
Contents
- Frequency of side effects
- Examples of therapeutic side effects
- Examples of undesirableunwanted side effects
- References
Occasionally, drugs are prescribed or procedures performed specifically for their side effects; in that case, said side effect ceases to be a side effect, and is now an intended effect. For instance, X-rays were historically (and are currently) used as an imaging technique; the discovery of their oncolytic capability led to their employ in radiotherapy (ablation of malignant tumours).
Frequency of side effects
The probability or chance of experiencing side effects are characterised as :
Examples of therapeutic side effects
Examples of undesirable/unwanted side effects
References
Side effect Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA