Medication
For instance, if you have mild hemophilia, you may need treatment only when you've been injured or in preparation for surgery. However, if you have severe hemophilia and bleed frequently, you may need regular treatment to help prevent bleeding and help protect your joints from deformity and disability.
Therapy
Lifestyle and home remedies. To avoid excessive bleeding and protect your joints: Exercise regularly. Activities such as swimming, bicycle riding and walking can build up muscles while protecting joints. Contact sports — such as football, hockey or wrestling — are not safe for people with hemophilia.
Self-care
Complications from treatment for hemophilia include: Acquiring a blood-borne disease Changes to the immune system that make the treatment less effective
Nutrition
Hemophilia is an inherited disorder. It prevents blood from clotting properly. People with hemophilia bleed longer than usual. This bleeding can range from mild to severe. In severe cases, people with hemophilia can bleed to death.
When should I get treatment for hemophilia?
How do you treat hemophilia at home?
What are the complications of treatment for hemophilia?
What is the prognosis of hemophilia?
What does treatment of hemophilia often involve?
The main treatment for severe hemophilia involves replacing the clotting factor you need through a tube in a vein. This replacement therapy can be given to treat a bleeding episode in progress. It can also be given on a regular schedule at home to help prevent bleeding episodes.
How is hemophilia treated now?
The best way to treat hemophilia is to replace the missing blood clotting factor so that the blood can clot properly. This is typically done by injecting treatment products, called clotting factor concentrates, into a person's vein.
What is the life expectancy for hemophilia?
Estimated median life expectancy of patients with hemophilia was 77 years, 6 years lower than the median life expectancy of the general Dutch male population (83 years).
Does hemophilia go away?
It lasts all of your life and it will not go away. Hemophilia occurs mainly in males but females can carry the gene that causes it and may or may not have bleeding problems. Some children with hemophilia have no family history of the disorder.
Does hemophilia get worse with age?
Many of the complications of hemophilia, including intracranial hemorrhage, joint disease, and inhibitor development, increase with increasing age.
How much does hemophilia cost?
Treatment for hemophilia is extremely expensive. This is a lifetime expense. The average cost is $40,000 to $50,000 a year. Complications from hemophilia can bring further expenses, which may be over $100,000.
Can a hemophiliac have a baby?
If the mother is a hemophilia carrier, there is a chance that the baby will be born with hemophilia. In families with a known history of hemophilia, or in those with a prenatal genetic diagnosis of hemophilia, one can plan special testing for hemophilia before the baby's delivery.
Are there any advantages to having hemophilia?
Hemophilia has been recognized as an ideal target disease for gene therapy because a relatively modest increase in clotting factor levels can result in a significant therapeutic benefit.
Can you get surgery with hemophilia?
With careful planning, most surgical procedures can be safely carried out in hemophilia patients, even those who have developed antibodies against clotting factor therapy.
Can a hemophiliac donate blood?
Because of the risk of bleeding, many blood collection centers turn away donors with hemophilia. Other centers turn away anyone who has ever received factor concentrate because of the risk of virus contamination. Maybe most importantly, you shouldn't donate blood because you need to protect your veins.
Which is worse hemophilia A or B?
Haemophilia B is clinically less severe than haemophilia A: further evidence - PMC.
Can a child outgrow hemophilia?
Hemophilia is a lifelong condition, a bleeding disorder caused by the absence of an essential blood clotting protein that has no cure. Children with hemophilia will grow out of it. Hemophilia is a lifelong condition, a bleeding disorder caused by the absence of an essential blood clotting protein that has no cure.
How is hemophilia managed?
In most cases a child with severe hemophilia is managed at home by his parents, with the administration of factor on a prophylactic schedule. As the child gets older, he is taught how to self-administer his factor on schedule or when an acute bleed occurs.
How many people have hemophilia A?
Hemophilia A affects 1 in 5,000 to 10,000 males. Hemophilia B is less common, affecting 1 in 25,000 to 30,000 males. Around 60% to 70% of people with hemophilia A have the severe form of the disorder and about 15% have the moderate form. The rest have mild hemophilia.
Why does hemophilia occur?
The disorder occurs because certain blood clotting factors are missing or do not work properly. Because a clot does not form, extensive bleeding can be caused from a cut or wound.
What causes hemophilia in a daughter?
In about 20% of all cases of hemophilia, the disorder is caused by a spontaneous gene mutation. In such cases there is no family history of abnormal bleeding.
What is the chance that any of her sons will inherit the gene and be born with hemophilia?
There is a 50% chance that any of her sons will inherit the gene and will be born with hemophilia. There is also a 50% chance that any of her daughters will be carriers of the gene without having hemophilia themselves.
What is the cause of hemophilia?
Hemophilia is caused by mutations in either the factor VIII or factor IX genes on the X chromosome. If a woman carries the abnormal gene on one of her X chromosomes (females have a pair of X chromosomes), she will not have hemophilia herself, but she will be a carrier of the disorder.
What is the most common type of hemophilia?
There are two main types of inherited hemophilia: Type A , the most common type, is caused by a deficiency of factor VIII, one of the proteins that helps blood to form clots. This type is known as classic hemophilia. Type B hemophilia is caused by a deficiency of factor IX. This type is also called Christmas disease.
How to prevent hemophilia?
Lifestyle and home remedies. To avoid excessive bleeding and protect your joints: Exercise regularly. Activities such as swimming, bicycle riding and walking can build up muscles while protecting joints. Contact sports — such as football, hockey or wrestling — are not safe for people with hemophilia.
How to help a child with hemophilia?
To help you and your child cope with hemophilia: Get a medical alert bracelet. This bracelet lets medical personnel know that you or your child has hemophilia, and the type of clotting factor that's best in case of an emergency. Talk with a counselor.
How to stop bleeding under the skin?
For small areas of bleeding beneath the skin, use an ice pack. Ice pops can be used to slow down minor bleeding in the mouth. Vaccinations. Although blood products are screened, it's still possible for people who rely on them to contract diseases.
What is the best way to prevent clots from breaking down?
It can be injected slowly into a vein or provided as a nasal spray. Clot-preserving medications. These medications help prevent clots from breaking down. Fibrin sealants. These medications can be applied directly to wound sites to promote clotting and healing. Fibrin sealants are especially useful in dental therapy.
How to treat internal bleeding?
If internal bleeding has caused severe damage, you may need surgery. First aid for minor cuts. Using pressure and a bandage will generally take care of the bleeding. For small areas of bleeding beneath the skin, use an ice pack.
When is hemophilia diagnosed?
Depending on the severity of the deficiency, hemophilia symptoms can first arise at various ages. Severe cases of hemophilia usually are diagnosed within the first year of life.
Can you use Tylenol for hemophilia?
Avoid certain pain medications. Drugs that can aggravate bleeding include aspirin and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others). Instead, use acetaminophen (Ty lenol, others), which is a safer alternative for mild pain relief.
What is the treatment for haemophilia A?
Haemophilia A. Preventative treatment for haemophilia A involves regular injections of a medicine called octocog alfa (Advate). Read about octocog alfa (Advate) on the European Medicines Agency's website. This medicine is an engineered version of clotting factor VIII (8), the clotting factor people with haemophilia A do not have enough of.
How to treat haemophilia in children?
Preventative treatment. Most cases of haemophilia are severe and need preventative treatment. This involves regular injections of clotting factor medicine. If your child has haemophilia, you'll be trained to give them the injections when they're young.
What is preventative treatment?
preventative treatment, where medicine is used to prevent bleeding and subsequent joint and muscle damage. on-demand treatment, where medicine is used to treat prolonged bleeding. Haemophilia is usually treated by a team at a haemophilia hospital department.
How often should I take octocog alfa?
This medicine is an engineered version of clotting factor VIII (8), the clotting factor people with haemophilia A do not have enough of. Injections every 48 hours are often recommended. Side effects of octocog alfa are uncommon but can include: an itchy skin rash. redness and soreness at the site of the injection.
Can ITI be given to people with haemophilia?
ITI is usually offered to people with severe haemophilia A. People with haemophilia B may be offered ITI, but it's less effective and there's a risk of severe allergic reaction. People with mild or moderate haemophilia A who develop inhibitors may be offered either bypass therapy or immunosuppressants.
Do you need to find veins for every injection?
This port is connected to a blood vessel near the heart, so you do not need to try to find a vein for every injection. People who have preventative treatment will need regular follow-up appointments with their care team so their progress can be monitored. Preventative treatment is usually continued for life.
Can haemophilia cause bleeding?
The more damaged a joint is, the more vulnerable it is to bleeding. Joint damage is more common in older adults with severe haemophilia. It's hoped that modern treatments mean children growing up with haemophilia today will not have joint damage. Surgery can be used to remove damaged synovium so new synovium can grow.
What are the complications of hemophilia?
Complications from treatment for hemophilia include: 1 Acquiring a blood-borne disease 2 Changes to the immune system that make the treatment less effective
What is the purpose of a lab test for hemophilia?
These tests help doctors diagnose the type of hemophilia and its severity.
What is factor VIII used for?
Factor VIII replacement is used to treat hemophilia A and Factor IX is used in the treatment of hemophilia B. The clotting factor is given intravenously (through a needle in your vein) to stop or prevent bleeding. Factor preparations come from two sources: Donated blood plasma. Synthetic (DNA-derived)
How to treat a bleed in a joint?
For bleeding joints, you must get treatment with clotting factor to avoid joint damage. Your doctor may also recommend resting and icing the affected joint to decrease pain and swelling. As pain and swelling subsides, physical therapy may help you recover joint mobility and strength.
Why is it important to donate blood?
Still, if you have hemophilia it is important for you to receive immunizations for hepatitis A and B to help prevent becoming infected with these viruses.
Do clotting factors have to be used as often?
Newer types of these clotting factor products have been developed so they can last longer in the body. This means that they do not have to be used as often. Other medicines have also been developed to work with the clotting factors to stop bleeding.
Do you need to be treated for hemophilia?
For instance, if you have mild hemophilia, you may need treatment only when you've been injured or in preparation for surgery. However, if you have severe hemophilia and bleed frequently, you may need regular treatment to help prevent ble eding and help protect your joints from deformity and disability.
How is hemophilia determined?
The severity of hemophilia that a person has is determined by the amount of factor in the blood. The lower the amount of the factor, the more likely it is that bleeding will occur which can lead to serious health problems. In rare cases, a person can develop hemophilia later in life. The majority of cases involve middle-aged or elderly people, ...
What is hemophilia clotting?
Table of Contents. Hemophilia is usually an inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot properly. This can lead to spontaneous bleeding as well as bleeding following injuries or surgery. Blood contains many proteins called clotting factors that can help to stop bleeding. People with hemophilia have low levels ...
What is the effect of hemophilia on blood clotting?
About 15-20 percent of people with hemophilia develop an antibody (called an inhibitor) that stops the clotting factors from being able to clot the blood and stop bleeding. Treatment of bleeding episodes becomes extremely difficult, and the cost of care for a person with an inhibitor can skyrocket because more clotting factor or a different type of clotting factor is needed. People with inhibitors often experience more joint disease and other problems from bleeding that result in a reduced quality of life.
What tests are done to determine if a newborn has hemophilia?
To make a diagnosis, doctors would perform certain blood tests to show if the blood is clotting properly. If it does not, then they would do clotting factor tests, also called factor assays, to diagnose the cause of the bleeding disorder.
How do you know if you have hemophilia?
Signs and Symptoms. Common signs of hemophilia include: Bleeding into the joints. This can cause swelling and pain or tightness in the joints; it often affects the knees, elbows, and ankles. Bleeding into the skin (which is bruising) or muscle and soft tissue causing a build-up of blood in the area (called a hematoma).
Can hemophilia cause death?
Bleeding in the head and sometimes in the brain which can cause long term problems, such as seizures and paralysis. Death can occur if the bleeding cannot be stopped or if it occurs in a vital organ such as the brain.
Can you get hemophilia later in life?
In rare cases, a person can develop hemophilia later in life. The majority of cases involve middle-aged or elderly people, or young women who have recently given birth or are in the later stages of pregnancy. This condition often resolves with appropriate treatment.
When does hemophilia develop?
People with severe hemophilia often develop bleeding problems within the first two years of life. Many infants are diagnosed when they have prolonged bleeding after circumcision. Others are diagnosed in childhood. They may develop excessive bruising and bleeding into joints after typical childhood injuries.
What is hemophilia C?
It is caused by a deficiency in clotting factor IX. It can be mild, moderate or severe. Hemophilia C is also called factor XI deficiency. It is uncommon in the United States. Hemophilia C is caused by a deficiency in clotting factor XI. It is inherited differently than Hemophilia A or B. As a result, it can be passed to both male ...
Why do hemophiliacs bleed?
Rather, hemophiliacs bleed more than other people do from significant injuries, trauma or surgery. How badly and how often people bleed directly relates to how much clotting factor they have. People with hemophilia may experience: Bleeding into the joints. The joints are the most common place for bleeding to occur.
What are the factors that help blood clot?
Clotting factors are substances in the blood that help the blood to clot. People with hemophilia do not have enough clotting factors. Blood clotting involves two sets of factors. One set works with specialized blood cells made in the bone marrow, called platelets. Platelets play a central role in blood clotting.
How do you give clotting factor concentrate?
This can help to decrease how often and how severely you bleed. Clotting factor concentrates are given by injection into a vein. Recombinant hemophilia factors are made in the test tube.
What are the factors that contribute to hemophilia?
Coagulation is a coordinated series of chemical reactions that clots and stops the bleeding. The main clotting factors involved in hemophilia are Factor VIII, Factor IX and Factor XI.
What is the most common place for bleeding to occur?
The joints are the most common place for bleeding to occur. The ankle, knee or elbow joints are most commonly affected. The affected joint becomes warm, painful and swollen. The person is not able to move the joint as freely as before.
How to treat hemophilia A?
This is done by infusing (giving medication into a vein) a FVIII product into the affected person. When you infuse, FVIII concentrate, the FVIII is immediately available in the bloodstream, and your body can use it to stop or prevent the bleeding.
When did cloning of FVIII and FIX occur?
In the early 1980s, the cloning of FVIII and FIX and subsequent expression of functional proteins occurred. This was during the “bad blood” era (when many individuals with hemophilia being treated with plasma-derived clotting factor were infected with HIV and/or HCV). This led to the development and commercialization of recombinant clotting factors. These initial products were manufactured using Chinese hamster ovary cells or baby mouse kidney cells. Manufacturers injected these cells with the factor gene so that large amounts of the factor protein could be produced. Since the proteins are extracted from animal cells, they are not at risk for containing human viruses. Some factor concentrate products are stabilized using human albumin, while others are stabilized using sucrose. This was life-changing for many with hemophilia, allowing for prophylactic (or preventive) treatment. Some companies are now using human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells to grow the factor.
Can you infuse FVIII into bloodstream?
All FVIII products need to be infused directly into the bloodstream. There are several ways to infuse FVIII, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. These include peripheral infusion (accessing a vein with a butterfly needle), port-a-catheter (also called a port), a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line, or a BROVIAC® or HICKMAN® catheter.
Does hemophilia have an inhibitor?
While anyone with a bleeding disorder can develop an inhibitor to clotting factor, those with hemophilia A develop inhibitors more often than the other bleeding disorders. Inhibitors are antibodies that the immune system develops because it perceives the infused FVIII as a foreign substance that needs to be destroyed. Antibodies are proteins that eat up the FVIII before it has time to stop the bleeding.
How long does hemophilia last?
Life expectancy in hemophilia varies, depending on whether patients receive appropriate treatment. Many patients still die before adulthood due to inadequate treatment. With proper treatment, life expectancy is only about 10 years less than healthy men. Overall, the death rate for people with hemophilia is about twice that ...
What is hemophilia news?
Hemophilia News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you ...
What is the most serious complication of hemophilia?
The most important life-threatening complications of the disease are bleeding in the skull and hemorrhages in soft tissue around airways or other internal organs. About 10 percent of those with severe hemophilia have bleeding in the skull, and 30 percent with the condition die. There is an up to 8 percent risk that a person with ...
Why did the death rate of hemophilia spike in the 1980s?
The hemophilia death rate spiked in the 1980s from the impact of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and therapy-associated hepatitis infections. Today, the mortality rate of men with hemophilia is still twice that of healthy men. Although joint deterioration remains a chronic complication in hemophilia, prompt and proper treatment can greatly ...
Can you treat an inhibitor?
Treating a person with an inhibitor, especially one whose immune system is mounting a potent and sustained immune response to replacement therapy, is often a very complicated and challenging endeavor.
Is it important to know the proper diagnosis and treatment of inhibitors?
It is important to note that the proper diagnosis and treatment of inhibitors is complex. There are many variables affecting choice of therapies and the timing of treatment as no two patients’ circumstances or clinical scenarios are identical.
Does hemlibra work with FVIII?
Another therapy that does not function by FVIII or IX replacement is Hemlibra® (Genentech), a novel laboratory-engineered protein that works by performing a key function in the clotting cascade – bridging activated factor and factor X – that is normally carried out by the FVIII protein.
Can factor replacement be used for low responding inhibitors?
For people who have low responding inhibitor levels, continued therapy with factor replacement is often effective . In many instances this approach is enough to control both minor and more severe bleeds. To overcome the presence of inhibitors in these cases, a physician may opt to increase the size and frequency of factor dosing.
Is a factor VIII inhibitor approved for hemophilia?
It is approved specifically for routine prophylaxis to prevent or reduce the frequency of bleeding episodes in adults and children with hemophilia A with factor VIII inhibitors.
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- The main treatment for severe hemophilia involves replacing the clotting factor you need through a tube in a vein. This replacement therapy can be given to treat a bleeding episode in progress. It can also be given on a regular schedule at home to help prevent bleeding episodes. Some people receive continuous replacement therapy. Replacement clotti...