Vincentelli et al. (2003) examined 42 patients with severe aortic stenosis who underwent valve replacement and found that platelet-function abnormalities under high shear stress, decreased von Willebrand factor collagen-binding activity and the loss of the largest multimers, or a combination of these, were present in 67 to 92 percent of patients with severe aortic stenosis and correlated significantly with the severity of valve stenosis. This evidence concerns the gene VWF and aortic stenosis.