Future Antithrombotic Therapies in Cardiology.

Thrombi are composed of activated platelets and fibrin, the latter being the final product of the blood coagulation system. Therefore, antithrombotic therapies may either interfere with adhesion, aggregation, secretion or signalling of platelets or with fibrin formation. Established drugs potently inhibit clot formation, but also increase the risk of bleeding. In this review article, we discuss novel strategies for the inhibition of pathological thrombosis while enabling normal haemostasis, thus minimizing the risk of bleeding.