Platelets and Coronary Artery Disease

Over a century ago, the German pathologist Rudolf Virchow presented a hypothesis that three factors — vessel injury, altered blood flow, and changes in blood coagulability — were responsible for vascular thrombosis. This concept, now immortalized as “Virchow's triad,” has become the central paradigm to explain venous and arterial thromboembolism. Venous thrombi contain few platelets, abundant fibrin, and many trapped red cells; they are produced by the activation of the plasma coagulation system and form in areas of stasis. They are effectively treated with anticoagulants such as heparin that retard the generation of thrombin and the formation of fibrin. In . . .