Unconventional diagnosis of Normandy-type von Willebrand's disease in a blood donor.

We report the case of a long-standing female blood donor whose blood donation was processed for cryoprecipitate. The cryoprecipitate unit was chosen at random for FVIII:C estimation as part of the quality control, and a low FVIII:C level was identified. The cause of this was subsequently shown to be the Normandy variant of type-2 von Willebrand's disease due to a homozygous Arg854Gln mutation in the von Willebrand factor gene.