von Willebrand disease: an update in the Aland islands

In the past decades von Willebrand disease (vWD) has, in several respects, fallen into the shadow of classical haemophilia due to all problems that ha ve faced those dealing with congenital bleeding disorders, not least regard ing blood-borne diseases. The time has come to revisit and refocus on vWD, probably the most common bleeding disorder. Accordingly, a number of Nordic physicians and scientists working in this field organized a meeting on the ferry boat from Stockholm to Mariehamn, in the Aland islands, the home of the index families with this disease, as described by Erik von Willebrand i n 1926. The objective of the meeting was to make a comprehensive survey of vWD as seen from the situation in the Nordic countries. In order to achieve all goals some scientists of note from countries outside the Nordic area w ere invited as well. This paper gives a summary of the symposium, mainly based on the separate p apers published in this issue.