How Blood Works With VWD or a Platelet Disorder
A person with von Willebrand Disease (VWD) or a platelet disorder will have trouble making a platelet plug. Some people with von Willebrand Disease (VWD) also have trouble making a fibrin clot because they don’t have enough factor VIII. Without a platelet plug, blood will continue to leak from an injured blood vessel. In time, the body can make a fibrin clot to stop the bleeding but it will not be as strong as a clot that had a good platelet plug.
If a person’s platelets have trouble sticking to the wall of an injured blood vessel, he or she has an adhesion disorder. If the platelets don’t stick well to each other, it is an aggregation disorder. If the platelets don’t release the chemicals that signal other platelets to join in making the plug, it is a secretion disorder. The platelet disorders described in The Handbook are listed below.
Adhesion Disorders
von Willebrand Disease (VWD)
Bernard-Soulier Syndrome
Aggregation Disorders
Secretion Disorders
Storage Pool Diseases including Alpha Storage Pool Deficiency (Gray Platelet Syndrome), Delta Storage Pool Deficiency, and Alpha/Delta Storage Pool Deficiency.