Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Aug 26, 2015; 7(8): 434-441
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i8.434
Thrombosis: Novel nanomedical concepts of diagnosis and treatment
Iwona Cicha
Iwona Cicha, Cardiovascular Nanomedicine Unit, Section of Experimental Oncology and Nanomedicine, ENT-Department, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
Author contributions: Cicha I solely contributed to this paper.
Supported by The EU “NanoAthero” project FP7-NMP-2012-LARGE-6-309820; and by the DFG (CI 162/2-1, SPP1681).
Conflict-of-interest statement: Iwona Cicha has no conflict of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Iwona Cicha, PhD, Cardiovascular Nanomedicine Unit, Section of Experimental Oncology and Nanomedicine, ENT-Department, University Hospital Erlangen, Glückstr 10a, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. iwona.cicha@yahoo.com
Telephone: +49-9131-8543953 Fax: +49-9131-8534828
Received: January 23, 2015
Peer-review started: January 24, 2015
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: March 23, 2015
Accepted: May 16, 2015
Article in press: May 18, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Processing time: 215 Days and 18.9 Hours
Abstract

Intravascular thrombosis, a critical pathophysiological feature of many cardiovascular disorders, leads to the formation of life-threatening obstructive blood clots within the vessels. Rapid recanalization of occluded vessels is essential for the patients’ outcome, but the currently available systemic fibrinolytic therapy is associated with low efficacy and tremendous side effects. Additionally, many patients are ineligible for systemic thrombolytic therapy, either due to delayed admission to the hospital after symptom onset, or because of recent surgery, or bleeding. In order to improve the treatment efficacy and to limit the risk of hemorrhagic complications, both precise imaging of the affected vascular regions, and the localized application of fibrinolytic agents, are required. Recent years have brought about considerable advances in nanomedical approaches to thrombosis. Although these thrombus-targeting imaging agents and nanotherapies are not yet implemented in humans, substantial amount of successful in vivo applications have been reported, including animal models of stroke, acute arterial thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism. It is evident that the future progress in diagnosis and treatment of thrombosis will be closely bound with the development of novel nanotechnology-based strategies. This Editorial focuses on the recently reported approaches, which hold a great promise for personalized, disease-targeted treatment and reduced side effects in the patients suffering from this life-threatening condition.

Keywords: Thrombosis; Thrombus imaging; Nanomedicine; Targeted nanoparticles; Thrombolytic drug-delivery systems

Core tip: The prevalence of thrombosis, the formation of life-threatening clots obstructing vital blood vessels, continues to rise. Accurate diagnosis and rapid recanalization of an occluded artery is essential to improve outcomes and reduce the mortality in acute myocardial infarction or stroke. The current thrombolytic therapy often fails to diminish the occlusion and is associated with a high rate of hemorrhagic complications. Development of directed nanosystems for local thrombolysis, characterized by a strong fibrinolytic effect and low bleeding risk, is therefore one of the most urgent tasks in the prevention and the therapy of acute thrombotic events.