Venous pulmonary thromboembolism and atherothrombosis: need for a new approach

Pulmonary venous thromboembolism and atherothrombosis are traditionally considered as distinct diseases. As the two entities share common risk factors and mechanisms current experimental and clinical studies support their mutual causal relationship. For the clinician, the current concept requires a different clinical, laboratory and therapeutic approach. The patient with a first arterial or venous thrombosis should be fully assessed for the risk of future clinical events, and, simultaneously addressed to aggressive preventive non-pharmacological and pharmacotherapy intervention. In this context, antiplatelet agents and statins have a potentially beneficial role.