Thrombolytic Therapy with T-PA *

Thrombosis was implicated in the etiology of acute myocardial infarction as early as 1912. ¹ The notion that clot lysis offers an opportunity for early therapy of this condition is hardly new. Fibrinolysis had been recognized as early as 1769, ² and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) as early as 1947. ³ Clinical investigation with t-PA was, however, hampered by the paucity of material available. Isolation was not accomplished until the late 1960s, ⁴ and quantities needed for clinical investigation were not available until 1981. ⁵