Clinical, laboratory and therapeutic aspects of platelet-type von Willebrand disease

Platelet-type von Willebrand disease (PT-VWD), or pseudo-VWD, is a rare inherited platelet disorder characterized by an increased affinity of the platelet membrane glycoprotein Ib alpha receptor for normal von Willebrand factor leading to characteristic platelet hyperaggregability. As PT-VWD shares most of the clinical and laboratory features of subtype 2B VWD, the differential diagnosis between these two inherited bleeding disorders requires either platelet-mixing or molecular genetic studies. In this review, the main clinical, laboratory and therapeutic characteristics of PT-VWD are concisely reported.