Abstract
Bleeding assessment tools were first developed essentially as research tools, for
the quantification of bleeding symptoms and the study of phenotype/genotype correlations.
Interestingly, these tools have been proven useful also for clinicians diagnosing
and treating bleeding disorders. The main advantage of these tools is the standardization
of the diagnostic process, allowing the introduction of criteria with known specificity
and sensitivity for the diagnosis of the most common mild bleeding disorders, particularly
von Willebrand disease. This is important also for a rational approach to the laboratory
diagnosis because for many mild bleeding disorders, a complex laboratory workup is
required. Bleeding assessment tools should always be complemented by ancillary coagulation
screening tests to exclude the presence of a bleeding disorder, however. Finally,
bleeding severity assessed by such tools has been shown to correlate with the long-term
probability of bleeding. Therefore, the bleeding assessment could become an important
marker of disease severity.
Keywords
bleeding disorders - von Willebrand disease - diagnosis - prognosis - questionnaires
