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Essai d'un medicament

English translation: trying out a medication/medicine/drug

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:Essai d\'un medicament
English translation:trying out a medication/medicine/drug
Entered by: B D Finch

15:35 Feb 12, 2018
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Medical - Psychology
French term or phrase: Essai d'un medicament
I'm translating psychiatric reports and I keep coming across the word "essai". I know what it means - the patient is trying a medication to see what the effect will be. Maybe the effect will be positive because the medication will alleviate some of the patient's symptoms. Or maybe it will be negative because the patient will suffer from side effects. The trouble is that I can't think of a good phrase in English for "essai".

I could use "medication trial" but it sounds too much like "clinical trial", which is not the right translation in this case.
I could also use "medication test" but that sounds clunky.
Another option is "drug test" but that makes it sound like the patient's urine is being tested for illegal drugs.

Finally, here's some examples of sentences containing "essai":
"l’absence de réponse aux premiers essais d’antidépresseurs tels que Pristiq et Cipralex"
"l’essai de Pristiq puis de Cipralex au mois d’avril"
"Essai avec Escitalopram"
"Il y a eu un essai avec le Escitalopram (Cipralex), et cet antidépresseur a été remplacé par le Bupropion "
"elle n’a pas été en mesure de compléter des essais thérapeutiques valables en raison des effets secondaires"
Paul Jones
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:02
trying out a medication/medicine/drug
Explanation:
I agree that the use of the noun "trial" makes it seem rather more like a scientific, randomised trial using a sample population of many more than one.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0072778/
Only relatively few studies in this area have directly compared drugs with each other. There is no evidence that any of the drugs has significant advantages over the others. But because the various drugs have different effect in different people, it may be worth trying out different medications.

https://www.emedicinehealth.com/reducing_medication_costs-he...
Often, a condition can be treated with one of several different medicines, and your doctor may be able to prescribe one that costs less. You might ask your doctor if he or she has medicine samples, vouchers, or other resources for you, especially when you are trying out a new medicine to see whether it will work.

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Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2018-02-13 19:25:47 GMT)
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I don't think it is too informal, and I think it has the advantage of making the meaning clearer than "trial".
Selected response from:

B D Finch
France
Local time: 20:02
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +3medication trial
Michele Rosen
4 +1Testing lines of treatment /therapy ( first, second, etc.)
Drmanu49
4Attempt with medication
Josephine Cassar
3 +1medication tried
Herbmione Granger
4trying out a medication/medicine/drug
B D Finch
Summary of reference entries provided
Pharmacotherapy and mental health
Nikki Scott-Despaigne

  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Essai d\'un medicament
medication trial


Explanation:
I agree that you need to avoid "clinical trial" and "drug test," so although it's not ideal, I think medication trial is sufficiently different from "clinical trial" that it could work. I've attached a Mayo Clinic article that I feel is relevant to this situation.


    https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/blood-test-could-prevent-medication-trial-and-error-for-rheumatoid-arthritis-patients/
Michele Rosen
United States
Local time: 14:02
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sheri P: I too think “trial” is okay, though I’d probably rewrite some of the examples with the verb “try.”
6 mins
  -> agreed!
agree  philgoddard
35 mins
agree  Jennifer White
1 hr
neutral  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: Also "trial" is sometimes used in this type of situation, I'd avoid it in this instance. I agree with your explanations but something with "try" would be better.
1 day 4 hrs
neutral  Drmanu49: Agree with Nikki trial is inappropriate in this case.
1 day 6 hrs
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46 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Essai d\'un medicament
Attempt with medication


Explanation:
First example: Attempt with anti-depressants-after all, that is what health professionals do-they attempt with one type of medication to see if it works or not or if patient has serious undesirable side effects in which case they move on to another. An alternative could be-assay

Josephine Cassar
Malta
Local time: 20:02
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in MalteseMaltese
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Essai d'un medicament
Testing lines of treatment /therapy ( first, second, etc.)


Explanation:
Usual terminology

Definition of second-line therapy - NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms ...
https://www.cancer.gov/publications/...terms/.../second-line...

Traduire cette page
Treatment that is given when initial treatment (first-line therapy) doesn't work, or stops working.


Drmanu49
France
Local time: 20:02
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 65

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: Absolutley. It's about trying to stabilise the patient as best as possible. It's about pharmacotherapeutic solutions. A number of diffferent molecules may need to be tried to see where the best balance between side effects/benefit lies.
1 day 2 hrs
  -> Thank you Nikki.
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Essai d\'un medicament
medication tried


Explanation:
Requires a little rearrangement, but I think it works for all of your cases.

Lack of response to the first antidepressants tried
Pristiq and then Cipralex were tried in April
Escitalopram tried
Escitalopram (Cipralex) was tried...
Because of the side effects, the therapy being tried was stopped before completion

Herbmione Granger
Germany
Local time: 20:02
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks, these sentences sound pretty natural.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nikki Scott-Despaigne
1 day 2 hrs
  -> Thanks, Nikki :)
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Essai d\'un medicament
trying out a medication/medicine/drug


Explanation:
I agree that the use of the noun "trial" makes it seem rather more like a scientific, randomised trial using a sample population of many more than one.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0072778/
Only relatively few studies in this area have directly compared drugs with each other. There is no evidence that any of the drugs has significant advantages over the others. But because the various drugs have different effect in different people, it may be worth trying out different medications.

https://www.emedicinehealth.com/reducing_medication_costs-he...
Often, a condition can be treated with one of several different medicines, and your doctor may be able to prescribe one that costs less. You might ask your doctor if he or she has medicine samples, vouchers, or other resources for you, especially when you are trying out a new medicine to see whether it will work.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2018-02-13 19:25:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I don't think it is too informal, and I think it has the advantage of making the meaning clearer than "trial".

B D Finch
France
Local time: 20:02
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 15
Notes to answerer
Asker: "Trying out" sounds good. It's maybe a little too informal for a psychiatric report though.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  philgoddard: I think the meaning of "trial" is clear from the context, as long as you don't say "drug/clinical trial".
11 mins
  -> I don't think so, and I think the use of the verb (to try/trying) is more natural here.
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Reference comments


1 day 4 hrs
Reference: Pharmacotherapy and mental health

Reference information:
https://academic.oup.com/ijnp/article/14/2/269/696826

When considering what treatment might be helpful for a patient, I observed during my neuropsychiatry internships that trial and error is the order of the day. Doctors prescribe treatment taking into account a number of criteria, not least of which is the delicate balance between effect on the symptoms the patient finds the toughest to bear and the physiological and other psychological effects of the drug in question. There's a trade-off and some patients suffer from symptoms that remain pharmacoresistant, whatever the treatment. It is a question of trial and error.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 46
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