New anticoagulant drugs

droxybenzoyl]amino)caprylate; TAFI 5 thrombin activatable fi-brinolysis inhibitor; TAP 5 tick anticoagulant peptide; TFPI 5 tissue factor pathway inhibitor; t-PA 5 tissue-type plas-minogen activator (CHEST 2001; 119:95S–107S) A rterial and venous thromboses are major causes ofmorbidity and mortality. Whereas arterial thrombosis is the most common cause of myocardial infarction, stroke, and limb gangrene, venous thrombosis leads to pulmonary embolism, which can be fatal, and to postphlebitic syn-drome. Because arterial thrombi consist of platelet aggre-gates held together by small amounts of fibrin, strategies to inhibit arterial thrombogenesis focus mainly on drugs that block platelet function, but they often include anti-coagulants to prevent fibrin deposition. In contrast, anti-coagulants are the drugs of choice for prevention o