Antihemophilic Factor Concentrate Therapy in von Willebrand Disease
Dissociation of Bleeding-Time Factor and Ristocetin-Cofactor Activities
- Philip M. Blatt, MD;
- Kenneth M. Brinkhous, MD;
- Harry R. Culp;
- Jonathon S. Krauss, MD;
- Harold R. Roberts, MD
Abstract
Treatment of von Willebrand disease with two plasma antihemophilic factor (AHF) concentrates, cryoprecipitate and glycine-precipitated AHF, was compared. Both concentrates were equally effective in immediately raising the plasma levels of factor VIII, the factor VIII-related antigen, and the ristocetin-related von Willebrand factor (vWF) and in stimulating a secondary rise in plasma factor VIII. Given either concentrate, the vWF activity, the antigen, and factor VIII levels were normalized in a patient with von Willebrand disease. However, correction of the prolonged bleeding time and control of bleeding occurred only with the cryoprecipitate. The bleeding-time corrective factor and the ristocetin-related vWF or platelet-aggregating factor are dissociable, distinct activities.
(JAMA 236:2770-2772, 1976)
Footnotes
-
Reprint requests to Department of Pathology, Room 707, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Preclinical Educational Bldg 228-H, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 (Dr Roberts).
