Double trouble: gastrointestinal angiodysplasia in Von Willebrand disease

Von Willebrand Disease (VWD) is the most common genetic bleeding disorder. The development of gastrointestinal angiodysplasia in VWD is a major clinical problem, since these dysplasias may bleed, which is aggravated in patients with a bleeding disorder, and therefore has a major impact on medical outcome, quality of life and health care costs. The bleeding from angiodysplasia is also less responsive to regular treatment of VWD. The aim of this project is to better understand the association between VWD, von Willebrand factor defects and the development of angiodysplasia.