Difficult-to-diagnose diseases

Disease directory

Some of these diseases are rare. Others are common but easily missed, because their symptoms mirror something more familiar. Either way, patients often wait years for a diagnosis that names what is happening to them.

Volv Global works across a growing number of these conditions. Each disease page sets out the numbers behind it, the signs and symptoms most often missed, and how our work is helping close the gap to diagnosis and treatment.

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Explore the disease areas

Fabry Disease

A rare, inherited condition that often goes unrecognised for over a decade, as symptoms mimic more common diseases.

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency

A hereditary condition strongly linked to COPD and liver disease, with most people who carry it never diagnosed.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

A life-threatening lung condition that goes unrecognised in as many as 4 in 10 patients on the day it first appears.

Neuroendocrine Tumours

A group of slow-growing but serious tumours whose vague, wide-ranging symptoms often delay diagnosis by years.

Pompe Disease

A rare muscle-wasting condition whose milder, later-onset form can take five to twelve years to diagnose.

Clinical Development

Earlier triage of patients into a clinical trial before they are given traditional therapies.

Case studies