expectant treatment /ekspek″tənt/ [L, exspectare, to wait for; Fr, traitment] , application of therapeutic measures to relieve symptoms as they arise in the course of a disease, rather than treatment of the cause of illness. Some kinds of expectant treatment are amputations for gangrene in a patient with diabetes, coronary bypass procedures in a patient with generalized atherosclerosis, and transplantation of tendons in a patient with severe rheumatoid arthritis. Compare definitive treatment, palliative treatment, treatment.
