Disturbances of haemostasis and thromboembolic disorders still constitute a great problem in clinical practice. Increasing insight into the mechanism of blood coagula- tion has led to more effective therapy and prophylaxis. Particularly, the understand- ing of the biochemistry of fibrinolysis has provided possibilities for the pharma- cological interference of these processes, which has resulted in effective haemostatic agents and useful antithrombotic ones. The development of antifibrinolytics for interfering with pathological fibrinolytic processes is nearly complete and has led to the...