Coronary thrombolysis: progress and promise.

The therapeutic history of thrombolysis in coronary heart disease is relatively recent, but is now stimulating rapidly increasing interest. Studies of the evolution of acute coronary thrombosis demonstrate the urgent necessity to commence thrombolysis treatment at the earliest possible moment. The development of newer specific thrombolytic agents with low toxicity, without antigenicity, and available for rapid parenteral administration holds much promise for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction in the future.