title: Clinical 'Pearls' of maternal critical care: part I.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review outlines the challenges in looking after pregnant women with thromboembolism and sepsis who either become or are at risk of becoming critically ill during pregnancy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance systems in both the USA and UK record the most common causes of maternal death as thromboembolism and sepsis. Both of these conditions have improved outcomes with timely maternal critical care provided by a multidisciplinary team.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this review, we discuss the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of thromboembolism and sepsis, two very important conditions with high mortality requiring admission to intensive care.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Anaesthesiology bQueen Mary University of London cDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology dDepartment of Intensive Care Medicine, Queen's Hospital, BHR NHS Trust, Romford, UK.
authors.forename: Vinod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Dhuleep S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Wijayatilake
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000592:standards*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D054556:Venous Thromboembolism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*