Nathan Connell: How the 2021 VWD Guidelines Are Actually Changing Real – World Practice
Nathan Connell, Clinical Chief of Hematology at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, shared a post on LinkedIn about a recent article by Michael Dong et al, published in Haemophilia:
“It’s encouraging to see centers beginning to evaluate how the 2021 von Willebrand disease guidelines are actually changing real-world practice.
This study, published in Haemophilia Journal, examines the impact of the ASH, ISTH, NHF, WFH 2021 guideline diagnostic criteria on patients with ‘low VWF’ in a single – center cohort. The authors, from the Gulf States Hemophilia and Thrombophilia Center in Houston, demonstrated that almost 75 percent of encounters were reclassified from ‘low VWF’ to type 1 VWD when bleeding phenotype was incorporated.
This reclassification led to increased use of VWF therapy and antifibrinolytics, and more than half of patients showed rising VWF levels with age, reinforcing the need for longitudinal reassessment.
Importantly, bleeding phenotypes were broadly similar between ‘low VWF’ and traditional type 1 VWD, supporting the rationale behind the guideline shift.
It is great to see clinical programs moving beyond guideline publication to actually assessing impact within their own patient populations.
That feedback loop is essential if we want guidelines to improve care meaningfully.”
Title: Assessing the Impact of the 2021 VWD Guidelines on the Diagnosis/Management of Low VWF Patients
Authors: Michael Dong, Joanna Larson, Sepideh Saroukhani, Miguel Escobar, Lakshmi Srivaths
Read the Full Article on Haemophilia

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