The Place of Thrombolysis in the Treatment of Peripheral Arterial Thrombosis

T hrombolysis, an established and effective treatment for peripheral arterial thrombosis, has been popular for decades. During thrombolysis, administration of a thrombolytic drug destroys the blood clot. All currently available thrombolytic agents are plasminogen activators; they induce blood clot destruction by converting plasminogen into plasmin, an enzyme that cuts and destroys the fibrin polymer network that unites the thrombus. Because of this lytic action on the fibrin polymer network, thrombolytic agents are also called “fibrinolytic agents.”1