The beginning phase or stage of a treatment is often called induction. In medicine, induction therapy is the initial treatment intended to reduce the disease burden, bring a condition under control, or begin a desired physiological process.
The term is used in several specialties. In cancer care, induction chemotherapy may be the first intensive phase designed to produce remission before consolidation or maintenance treatment. In hematology, for example, treatment plans may proceed through induction, consolidation, and sometimes maintenance. In reproductive medicine, labor induction means using medication or procedures to start labor.
Induction does not always mean the entire treatment course, and it is not synonymous with maintenance therapy. “Initial therapy” or “first-line treatment” may also be used in general medical writing, but induction is the standard canonical term when a treatment plan is explicitly divided into phases. The precise meaning depends on the disease and specialty.