Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
An embolism is the obstruction, or blockage, of a blood vessel by a blood clot that dislodged from its site of origin elsewhere within the cardiovascular system, or by a gas bubble, fat globule, or some other foreign material in the circulation.
In this Review, Kleinbongard and Heusch characterize the features and mechanisms of coronary microembolization and discuss the clinical trials of drugs and devices for the prevention and treatment of this phenomenon.