Reducing the risk of venous thromboembolism in pregnancy--The safe motherhood initiative thromboembolism bundle.

Maternal mortality from venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains a significant cause of direct maternal death, and one that is largely preventable. The incidence of VTE in pregnancy and the postnatal period is, however, rising in the United States, likely reflecting increasing obesity and operative delivery rates. There is a clear need to establish and implement risk assessment tools and thromboprophylaxis guidelines in an effort to curb these rising rates and reverse this current trend. In this article, Friedman and D'Alton introduce a thromboembolism bundle of recommendations from the Safe Motherhood Initiative, which aim to do just that. In this article, we review the recommendations made, and compare to established guidelines, such as those from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which have successfully reduced maternal mortality from VTE following publication.