Combining glycoprotein blockers with fibrinolysis: a bold stroke?

For the future treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction, fibrinolytic therapy will be the most widely used therapy, because of its simplicity, worldwide availability and relatively low cost. In comparison to primary angioplasty, which will continuously be hampered by its limited availability and inherent time delay, fibrinolytic therapy has two major drawbacks: partial efficacy and a small, but significant risk of major life-threatening bleeding. Several modifications in fibrinolytic drug design have optimized simplicity and efficacy in that 90 min patency of about 60% can be achieved with