[The best of 2001. Thrombosis]

Although it is impossible to recall all the new developments of the year 2001 regarding thrombosis, we have selected certain results: several, with although "negative" results, are highly interesting because they contradict preliminary studies which could have predicted therapeutic perspectives that would considerably alter the management of a common and serious illness. In this sense, they remind us that the large randomised studies (RCT) remain the necessary and indispensable tool for validating a large scale therapy: others, because they come within the logic of certain earlier results, and in this sense it is good for a clinician to see that a certain logic still exists in cardiology; others again, because they define a certainly real benefit, but whose limits of applicability could sometimes escape clinicians.