ACQUIRED VON WILLEBRANDS DISEASE - A RARE MANIFESTATION OF POSTPARTUM THYROIDITIS

This report describes the diagnosis of acquired type I von Willebrand disease in a 30-year-old woman (G(5)P(5)) who presented with complaints of excessive bleeding in the postpartum period. The patient's additional complaints of fatigue, depression, and inability to lose weight resulted in laboratory testing that indicated hypothyroidism due to thyroiditis. Clinical symptoms and laboratory tests for von Willebrand disease and hypothyroidism normalized with L-thyroxine replacement, Thyroiditis resulting in symptomatic hypothyroidism occurs in 2-4 per cent of postpartum women. The possibility of underlying hypothyroidism should be considered for those patients, especially if they are parous women, who appear to have an acquired bleeding disorder suggestive of von Willebrand disease. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.*