Effect of transcutaneous aortic valve implantation on the Heyde's syndrome.

The association between aortic valve stenosis and gastrointestinal bleeding, traditionally known as Heyde's syndrome, is the result of a quantitative loss of the highest molecular weight von Willebrand multimers (type 2A von Willebrand syndrome). This results in bleeding from areas of high shear stress such as gastrointestinal angiodysplasias. Correction of this bleeding diathesis after surgical aortic valve replacement has been well described.