New directions in thrombolytic therapy.

Although current thrombolytic agents have proven their clinical benefit, the failure to rapidly reperfuse some patients and the persistent bleeding risk represent areas for improvement in therapy. In the past two years, the field has been advanced by the regulatory approval of agents with greater ease of administration, continued development of new agents and exploration of the use of more advanced antiplatelet therapies in combination with thrombolytic agents. Finally, a new class of directly acting fibrinolytic agents is available.