Atherothrombosis - Wave Goodbye to Combined Anticoagulation and Antiplatelet Therapy?

Atherothrombosis - Wave Goodbye to Combined Anticoagulation and Antiplatelet Therapy? [Editorial]
Mohler, Emile R. III.
From the Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Division, Section of Vascular Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia.
Atherothrombosis describes the occurrence of both atherosclerosis and thrombosis in an artery, a common feature of peripheral arterial disease. [1] It is estimated that 1 in 16 U.S. residents who were at least 40 years of age in 2000 (approximately 8.5 million persons) had peripheral arterial disease. [2] Although claudication is frequent in and seriously limits the lifestyle of patients with peripheral arterial disease, the most common cause of death in these patients is from coexisting atherothrombosis in the coronary or carotid arteries, resulting in a risk of myocardial infarction or stroke that is three times as high as the risk in patients without peripheral arterial disease. [3] It is estimated that half of patients with peripheral arterial disease have concomitant coronary artery disease. [4] The Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (known as REACH) Registry, which follows a cohort of approximately 68,000 patients, showed that the annual rate of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes for patients with peripheral arterial disease was 5%./.../