Von Willebrand Disease: A Critical Overview

Abstract

Von Willebrand Disease (VWD) is an inherited bleeding disorder. But women may be affected more due to menstruation and child birth. There are three main types of VWD that is type 1, type 2 and type3. It’s categorized on the bases of severity and inheritance pattern. Von Willebrand Disease caused by missing or defective von Willebrand factor, a clotting protein. Willebrand factor binds factor VIII and help form a platelet plug during the clotting process. Most affected individuals usually have mild form of the disease. The prevalence of VWD is estimated in between 23-110 per 10,00,000 in the general population. VWD type 2 rarely affected to people. Von Willebrand Disease type 3 is extremely rare, approximately 1 in 2,50,000-10,00,000 population. Symptoms can include bleeding from mucus membrane, nose bleeding, gingival bleeding, Easy bruising, Menorrhagia females. Gene therapy is the treatment of choice for the good prognosis. There is no cure for VWD, but it can be treated with symptomatic management.