An Important Step for Thrombocardiology

It has been known for more than a century that coronary-artery thrombosis is the most common precipitant of acute myocardial infarction and that atherosclerotic plaques in the coronary arteries are often responsible for angina pectoris. When anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents became available, clinical investigators rushed to study their efficacy and safety in patients with coronary artery disease. Attention was focused on two large populations — patients with acute coronary syndromes and those with stable ischemic disease, many of whom had previously had an acute event. Hundreds of trials, registries, and systematic analyses on the benefits and risks of individual and . . .