Current state of thrombolytic therapy.

More than 200,000 people have been enrolled into clinical trials examining different reperfusion strategies for patients with acute myocardial infarction. Each year approximately 1 million people in the United States experience acute myocardial infarction. Thrombolytic agents, including streptokinase and tissue-type plasminogen activator, activate plasminogen. These agents are often divided into "fibrin-specific" and "non-fibrin-specific" drugs. New thrombolytic agents designed to address several of the shortcomings of existing thrombolytics are in various stages of clinical development.