The lowdown on lipodystrophy. Special report from the 2nd International Workshop on Adverse Drug Reactions and Lipodystrophy.

A major underlying theme of this meeting was complexity, and the realization that the time has come to individualize therapy, including decisions about when to start therapy and what to use. Our knowledge in this regard is rudimentary. The availability of HAART has led to therapeutic optimism in the U.S., with nearly universal access to the best regimen possible at any given time. Factoring in all of the possible individual and therapeutic variations, to compare risk to benefit, is not possible, although two web sites will be identified through which we can start to quantify cardiac risk. However, we are clearly moving in the direction of individualizing therapy.