The study began in May 2011. It is hoped that this study click here will help to significantly improve our knowledge of VWD3. Underlying VWD is found commonly in women with menorrhagia, but the difficulty is that many women with menorrhagia are not tested routinely for VWD. This section looked at the special challenges in diagnosing and treating the female VWD patient. In his original report [1] Erik von Willebrand described VWD as a disease of women. It is estimated that 5–10% of women seek medical attention for menorrhagia [86] and underlying VWD is found

commonly in such women (13%) [87]. However, the average delay from the onset of bleeding symptoms to the diagnosis of a bleeding disorder has been reported to be 16 years [88]. Reasons for this include the difficulties that gynaecologists and primary care physicians have in determining which patients to refer, the lack of recognition by gynaecologists and primary care physicians of menorrhagia as a symptom of a bleeding disorder, the size of the population with menorrhagia and the lack of a simple laboratory test to screen for bleeding disorders in these patients. It has

been found that the quality of life in patients with menorrhagia is less than that of the general population [89]. Menorrhagia is defined as the loss of over 80 mL of blood in each menstrual period [90] and can be measured with the use of a pictorial blood assessment chart. A pictorial chart score of >100 has been shown to be reasonably accurate for identifying patients this website with menorrhagia. It would be difficult to refer all women with menorrhagia for haemostatic testing. There have been many attempts at standardizing bleeding histories in an effort to prevent unwarranted laboratory testing. An International Expert Panel, Grade B Level III published a consensus on the diagnosis and management of VWD [91]. Diagnosis depended on the following:

Menorrhagia since menarche; Family history of a bleeding disorder; Personal history of one, but usually several, of the following symptoms: ○  Epistaxis (generally bilateral epistaxis, >10 min’ duration; Screening tools have been used to identify the presence of bleeding disorders in women with menorrhagia with a PBAC score >100. The sensitivity medchemexpress of the screening tool has been found to be 89% for haemostatic defects, and this increased to 93% and 95% with a serum ferritin level of <20 ng mL−1 and a PBAC score of >185, respectively [92]. A bleeding disorder was identified in 154 of 217 women in the study. A condensed MCMDM–1 VWD bleeding questionnaire has also been used to assess the amount of bleeding in women with menorrhagia. Management of menorrhagia in women with inherited bleeding disorders (IBDs) should be carried out by a multidisciplinary team including a gynaecologist and haematologist. Various approaches to management can be taken, these include the following: antifibrinolytic therapy, hormonal therapy, DDAVP, surgery or coagulation factor replacement.