Laboratory diagnosis and management of von Willebrand disease in South Africa.

Patients with Von Willebrand disease (VWD) in South Africa are cared for in 17 Hemophilia Treatment Centers. The exact prevalence of the disease is uncertain, but 539 patients are annotated in registries. VWD patients are mostly diagnosed in the five largest academic centers, and the classification of the subtypes is performed by one of these, the VWD testing facility.

Performance and utility of a cost-effective collagen-binding assay for the laboratory diagnosis of Von Willebrand disease.

Background: The collagen-binding assay, a functional assay of Von Willebrand factor (VWF), discriminates the subtypes of Von Willebrand disease (VWD). Commercial collagen binding assays have the advantage of immediate use for fast results, but are expensive.

Methods: In this study we evaluated an in-house collagen-binding assay using type III collagen.