Acute coronary syndromes and percutaneous coronary interventions

SummaryActivation of the coagulation cascade and platelet functions occurs in ACS and may lead to subsequent thrombus formation, vessel occlusion, distal embolisation, myocardial ischaemia, necrosis and eventually death. Over the last 20 years, the outcome of ACS and PCI patients has considerably improved, thanks to better pharmacologic environment, urgent reperfusion in STEMI (ST elevation myocardial infarction), timely revascularisation in non-ST elevation ACS (NSTEACS) and improved PCI techniques, particularly widespread use of stents.In this context, bleeding was long considered as inherent to the modern the…