[66-year old female patient with vitreous and mucosal bleeding]. / 66-jährige Patientin mit Glaskörperblutung und Schleimhautblutungen.

ABSTRACT

HISTORY AND CLINICAL FINDINGS: We report on a 66-year-old female patient, who presented with a new occurrence of mucosal bleeding and also developed a vitreous hemorrhage. INVESTIGATIONS AND DIAGNOSIS The bleeding symptoms were caused by an acquired von Willebrand disease (VWD) associated with Waldenström macroglobulinemia. In this context, acquired VWD disease results from a dysfunction of the von Willebrand factor (VWF) caused by monoclonal immunoglobulin of type IgM. TREATMENT AND COURSE Chemotherapy led to normalization of VWF levels and activity, and a complete remission of the bleeding symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Acquired VWD should be considered in patients with acquired bleeding tendency. Vitreous hemorrhage as observed in our patient is an unusual bleeding symptom induced by hemorrhagic disorders and has to our knowledge not yet been reported in association with this entity.