Laboratory diagnosis of von Willebrand disease

SummaryOver the last decade, considerable progress has been made in the laboratory diagnosis of VWD. Precise, sensitive and automated VWF : Ag assays became widely available. The VWF : RCo performance was improved to a certain degree. However, the sensitivity, precision and general availability of automated applications is not yet optimal. Nevertheless, this type of assay is still recognized as superior to other activity assays, e. g. VWF : CBA assays and antibody-binding “activity” assays, for the detection of defects in VWF function.A decision limit of either 30 or 40 IU dl-1 VWF (VWF:RCo or VWF:Ag) is recomme…