After Salvage Therapy
After salvage therapy has been prescribed, you should have regular appointments with your doctor. Because salvage therapy poses a risk of toxicity, regular blood tests and physical exams can help identify side effects early before they turn severe.
Your doctor will also need to evaluate your response to treatment. The test do e for this will depend on the illness. With HIV, a viral blood test will be done to see how well the drugs are working.
For cancer, this may involve blood tests to check for tumor markers (substances released by cancer cells or produces as a reaction to a tumor) and imaging studies to observe the size of the tumor.
At the beginning of salvage therapy, your doctor might arrange more frequent appointments than usual. Even if you achieve the optimal response, such as an undetectable viral load or cancer remission, you would still need to see your doctor regularly to monitor your condition.