Cardiovascular Medicine
A balance between thrombosis and excess bleeding is an essential paradigm for practicing physicians in cardiovascular medicine. This chapter focuses on the pathobiological mechanisms of coronary atherothrombosis, atrial fibrillation (AF), heart failure (HF), and cardiac devices as a platform for understanding pharmacotherapy and evidencebased treatment strategies in these diseases. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) refers to invasive, nonsurgical revascularization of the coronary arteries via an endovascular approach. The goal of fibrinolytic therapy is rapid restoration of flow in an occluded vessel (STEMI) achieved by accelerating fibrinolysis of a coronary arterial thrombus. Compared with aspirin alone, unfractionated heparin (UFH) reduces nonfatal cardiovascular events in the setting of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) represents atherosclerosis of the aorta, iliac, and lower extremity arteries and is a major source of morbidity and mortality. The Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves (PARTNER) Study was the first prospective, randomized trial of Transcatheter Aortic valve replacement (TAVR).
