Antithrombotic Therapy for Vascular Disease and Intervention: The Best Is Yet to Come?

Despite ongoing progresses, atherothrombosis continues to have a substantial morbidity and mortality burden, with platelet aggregation and the coagulation cascade activation playing a pivotal role in thrombus formation at the site of endothelial injury. Indeed, endothelial barrier breakdown can be spontaneous because of the rupture or erosion of atherosclerotic plaques or iatrogenic in the course of heart and vascular procedures. In either of the cases, the unfavorable result can be the intermittent or permanent obstruction of the blood flow.