Obstetrical venous thromboembolism: Epidemiology and strategies for prophylaxis.

How to best reduce maternal risk from obstetric venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a relatively controversial topic. In comparison, for other leading causes of maternal mortality and severe morbidity such as obstetric hemorrhage and hypertension, there is general agreement on recommendations. While obstetric VTE poses a unique epidemiological and public health challenge, a number of recommendations related to care improvement and patient safety can be made. This edition of Seminars in Perinatology focuses on (i) overview of clinical research and epidemiology that can serve as a basis for informed decision making regarding VTE prophylaxis strategies, (ii) VTE prophylaxis implementation from a leadership perspective, (iii) future directions for research on obstetric VTE, and (iv) critical care management of obstetric VTE...

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a leading cause of severe maternal morbidity and mortality. While pregnancy alone is a risk factor for VTE, additional population-based risk factors such as obesity are becoming increasingly common, particularly in the developed world. Maternal death from VTE is amenable to prevention and VTE thromboprophylaxis is the most readily implementable means of systematically reducing the maternal death rate. In the United States, prophylaxis is recommended primarily for patients at extremely high risk for thromboembolism and women undergoing cesarean delivery, whereas in the United Kingdom a larger proportion of the population is targeted...