Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Academic Term

Summer 8-3-2017

Document Type

Project

Course Number

N5330

Course Name

Advanced Pathophysiology

Professor’s Name

Dr. Chovan

Keywords

von Willebrand Disease

Subject Categories

Medicine and Health Sciences | Nursing

Abstract

VWD is one of the most prevalent inherited bleeding disorder (James, 2017). This disorder is the result of a low levels of von Willebrand factor (VWF). VWF is a protein that binds to factor VIII; an essential clotting protein and platelets in the blood vessel walls that aids in production of a platelet plug during the clotting process (National Hemophilia Foundation, n.d.). This disorder was first described in 1926 by Erik von Willebrand. He distinguished that it differed from hemophilia and named it “pseudo hemophilia” (Leebeek, Eikenboom, 2016, p. 2067).

There are three main types of VWD, which is based on the VWF; type 1 VWD, type 2 VWD and type 3 VWD (National Hemophilia Foundation, n.d.). On rare incidences, a fourth type of VWD can developed from other medical conditions; lymphoma’s, leukemia’s, disorder such as lupus and certain medications (Nordqvist, 2016). Type 1 is found in 60-80 % of individuals, there is an insufficient amount of VWF in the blood and symptoms are usually mild. Type 2 is found in 15-30 % of patients and symptoms range from mild to moderate. Type 3 is five to ten percent of with VWD and there is a complete deficiency of VWF. This type displays the most severe symptoms (Federici, 2016, p. 42). VWD equally affects men, women and children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1% of the United States (U.S.) populations is diagnosed with the blood disorder, that breaks down to 3.2 million people in the U.S. Between the year 2012 to 2016, 14,600 individuals were seen for treatment in hemophilia centers for VWD (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016). According to James (2017), “90% of women being treated at hemophilia centers in the U.S. have VWD” (p. 21). There is also no geographical or ethnic affiliation with VWD (Lillecrap, 2013).

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