Thrombosis: theoretical considerations.

The blood coagulation process is initiated in response to vascular injury and results in either hemostasis or thrombosis. The process can be divided conceptually into separate steps including initiation, propagation, termination, elimination, and repair. Concise descriptions of each of these processes are provided in the present review together with an attempt to integrate these processes at a conceptual level so as to avoid the unfortunate tendency to apply linear logic to the complex temporal interplay among the various processes in the blood coagulation system.