6 It is estimated that many more cases of DVT are not diagnosed and hence improvements in diagnosis of VTE is a priority. 2 Approximately 2 million patients are diagnosed with a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) annually in the United States, 3 resulting in estimated 600,000 hospitalisations and 200,000 deaths resulting from pulmonary embolism (PE), 4, 5 and the short‐term mortality rate from untreated pulmonary embolus probably exceeds 20%. Venous thromboembolism (VTE), which comprises deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolus (PE), is the third commonest vascular disorder in Caucasian populations, 1 and in Australia, DVT alone (without concomitant PE) affects 52 persons per 100,000 annually.