An antithrombotic agent is a drug that reduces the formation of blood clots (
thrombi
A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of c ...
).
[http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?antithrombotic ] Antithrombotics can be used therapeutically for prevention (
primary prevention
Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...
,
secondary prevention
Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...
) or treatment of a dangerous blood clot (acute thrombus). In the U.S., the
American College of Chest Physicians
The American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST) is a medical association in the United States consisting of physicians and non-physician specialists in the field of chest medicine, which includes pulmonology, critical care medicine, and sleep med ...
publishes
clinical guideline
Clinical may refer to: Healthcare
* Of or about a clinic, a healthcare facility
* Of or about the practice of medicine Other uses
* ''Clinical'' (film), a 2017 American horror thriller
See also
*
*
* Clinical chemistry, the analysis of bodily flu ...
s for clinicians for the use of these drugs to treat and prevent a variety of diseases.
Processes
Different antithrombotics affect different blood clotting processes:
*
Antiplatelet drug
An antiplatelet drug (antiaggregant), also known as a platelet agglutination inhibitor or platelet aggregation inhibitor, is a member of a class of pharmaceuticals that decrease platelet aggregation and inhibit thrombus formation. They are effectiv ...
s limit the migration or aggregation of
platelet
Platelets, also called thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping, thereby ini ...
s.
*
Anticoagulant
Anticoagulants, commonly known as blood thinners, are chemical substances that prevent or reduce coagulation of blood, prolonging the clotting time. Some of them occur naturally in blood-eating animals such as leeches and mosquitoes, where the ...
s limit the ability of the
blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...
to clot.
*
Thrombolytic drug
Thrombolysis, also called fibrinolytic therapy, is the breakdown (lysis) of blood clots formed in blood vessels, using medication. It is used in ST elevation myocardial infarction, stroke, and in cases of severe venous thromboembolism (massive ...
s act to dissolve clots after they have formed.
See also
*
Direct Xa inhibitor
Direct factor Xa inhibitors (xabans) are anticoagulants (blood thinning drugs), used to both treat and prevent Venous thrombosis, blood clots in veins, and prevent stroke and embolism in people with atrial fibrillation (AF).
Medical use
Direct f ...
*
Warfarin
Warfarin, sold under the brand name Coumadin among others, is a medication that is used as an anticoagulant (blood thinner). It is commonly used to prevent blood clots such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, and to prevent strok ...
References
External links
Antithrombotic Therapy/ American Society of Hematology
Antithrombotic agents
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