Von Willebrand disease

Symptoms

• Abnormal menstrual bleeding
• Bleeding of the gums
• Bruising
• Nose bleeds
• Skin rash

Exams and Tests

Tests that may be done to diagnose this disease include:

• Bleeding time (is prolonged)
• Platelet aggregation test
• Platelet count (may be normal)
• Ristocetin cofactor test (the primary assay test used to diagnose von Willebrand disease)
• VonWillebrand factor level (level is reduced)

This disease may also alter the results of the following tests:

• Factor VIII level
• Von Willebrand factor multimers (parts of the von Willebrand factor protein molecule)

Von Willebrand disease may be hard to diagnose. Low Von Willebrand factor levels and bleeding do not always mean you have Von Willebrand disease.

References

Kumar V, Abbas AK, Fausto N. Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. 7th ed. St. Louis, Mo: WB Saunders; 2005:654-655.

Noble J. Textbook of Primary Care Medicine. 3rd ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2001:1047.

Marx J. Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 5th ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2002:1693.

Sadler JE. New concepts in von Willebrand disease. Annu Rev Med. 2005;56:173-91.