title: Laboratory diagnosis of von Willebrand's disease.
abstract: The laboratory diagnosis of von Willebrand's disease (vWD) has become much more difficult because of the identification of numerous variant forms of vWD. The biologic and pathologic variability in individual patients necessitates a comprehensive assessment. Patients with classic type I vWD may be easily identified by using the bleeding time, activated partial thromboplastin time, platelet count, von Willebrand antigen, and ristocetin cofactor tests. In patients with variant forms of vWD, however, multimeric analysis of both platelet and plasma von Willebrand factor may be necessary. Furthermore, more than one assessment may be needed to detect an abnormal result in many of the aforementioned tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Ball Memorial Hospital, Muncie, Indiana.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Triplett
mesh_terms: D001760:Bleeding Time; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005169:Factor VIII / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007123:Immunoelectrophoresis, Two-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D010314:Partial Thromboplastin Time; D010974:Platelet Aggregation; D010976:Platelet Count; D011247:Pregnancy; D014842:von Willebrand Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014841:von Willebrand Factor / Q000032:analysis / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D014841:von Willebrand Factor; D005169:Factor VIII