[Inflammation and anti-inflammatory treatment. A challenge of all times]

It was not until a relatively short time ago, that inflammation was considered as a "defence" mechanism of the body. During the last century, Hunter pointed out that instead of being a disease, inflammation was a nonspecific reactive process of the body, which most of the times instead of making harm was beneficial. Now a days, the inflammatory response is recognized as a complex process of reactions, in which chemical mediators, enzymes, different cells and their substances take an important place in the body homeostasis. The increase of knowledge has been helping in the better understanding in the mechanisms and actions that these substances exerts, and through them, to be able to control inflammation and avoid irreversible damage. In the clinical practice the search for an effective and better tolerated anti-inflammatory must include several points: its pharmacokinetics, efficacy, doses, pharmaceutical presentation, tolerance, patient acceptance and cost. The relevance of knowledge of all the different pathways of inflammation in one hand, and the utility of different anti-inflammatory drugs who can assure the efficacy in the inflammatory response on the other has been a challenge in the past, and still is a challenge of our era.