title: Modifying Antiretroviral Therapy in Virologically Suppressed HIV-1-Infected Patients.
abstract: HIV-1-infected patients with suppressed plasma viral loads often require changes to their antiretroviral (ARV) therapy to manage drug toxicity and intolerance, to improve adherence, and to avoid drug interactions. In patients who have never experienced virologic failure while receiving ARV therapy and who have no evidence of drug resistance, switching to any of the acceptable US Department of Health and Human Services first-line therapies is expected to maintain virologic suppression. However, in virologically suppressed patients with a history of virologic failure or drug resistance, it can be more challenging to change therapy while still maintaining virologic suppression. In these patients, it may be difficult to know whether the discontinuation of one of the ARVs in a suppressive regimen constitutes the removal of a key regimen component that will not be adequately supplanted by one or more substituted ARVs. In this article, we review many of the clinical scenarios requiring ARV therapy modification in patients with stable virologic suppression and outline the strategies for modifying therapy while maintaining long-term virologic suppression.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Lane L-134, Stanford, CA, 94305-5107, USA.
authors.forename: Sean E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Lane L-134, Stanford, CA, 94305-5107, USA.
authors.forename: Philip M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, 300 Pasteur Drive, Lane L-134, Stanford, CA, 94305-5107, USA. rshafer@stanford.edu.
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Shafer
mesh_terms: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D017211:Treatment Failure; D019562:Viral Load / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents