title: Anticoagulant and antiplatelet agents: their clinical and device application(s) together with usages to engineer surfaces.
abstract: An essential aspect of the treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease is the use of anticoagulant and antiplatelet agents for the prevention of further ischaemic events and vascular death resulting from thrombosis. Aspirin and heparin have been the standard therapy for the management of such conditions to date. Recently, numerous more potent platelet inhibitors together with anticoagulant agents have been developed and tested in randomized clinical trials. This article reviews the current state of the art of antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapy in light of its potential clinical efficacy. It then focuses on the usages of these agents in order to improve the performance of clinical devices such as balloon catheters, coronary stents, and femoropopliteal bypass grafting and extra corporeal circuits for cardiopulmonary bypass. The article then goes on to look at the usage of these agents more specifically heparin, heparan, hirudin, and coumarin in the development of more biocompatible scaffolds for tissue engineering.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Surgery, Royal Free and University College Medical School, University College London, Royal Free Hospital, London NW3 2QG, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Asmeret G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Kidane
authors.forename: Henryk
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salacinski
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tiwari
authors.forename: K Richard
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Bruckdorfer
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Seifalian
mesh_terms: D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants; D010975:Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors