Normally the blood clots in few seconds for healthy individuals, but in persons affected with hemophilia it takes long time for the blood to clot. There are three types of hemophilia namely, hemophilia A, B, and Von Wilebrand disease.
Causes :
Blood clotting is a process which involves series of reactions from the body mechanism called coagulation. You require special kind of protein for coagulation to take place. In some persons, the protein factor is not present in the blood which increases the time of bleeding. Hemophilia is caused by lack of factor VIII or IX. Again this disorder is hereditary and run on families. To some extent males are more affected with this problem than females. There is 70% of chance of getting hemophilia if any of your parents have this problem.
Symptoms :
Excess of bleeding, uncontrolled bleeding for long time is the major symptom of hemophilia. In many cases, people with hemophilia are not diagnosed initially and later identified when they undergo surgery or facing trauma or major injury. In rare cases, internal bleeding may cause death.
Bleeding in urine (hematuria) is common in patients with this disorder. Bleeding in joints occur affecting joints in knee, shoulder, ankle or feet. There may be prickly or burning sensation of pain in the knee joints along with swelling in the joints. Sometimes, bleeding occurs in muscles of thigh, calf and forearm muscles.
In severe case, blood may not clot causing bleeding in the central nervous system which is life threatening. Similarly bleeding in brain (intracranial) occurs in adults with or without injury.
Tests/Diagnoses :
- Any doctor can easily identify this problem since bleeding may not stop after minutes. Very often, people with hemophilia will have family history of this disorder. In children this disease can be detected by non-stop bleeding during falls.
- The doctor will do partial thromboplastin time analysis for measuring the blood clotting time.
Treatment :
You can drink plenty of liquids to keep yourself hydrated when there is bleeding in urine. Do not take aspirin or its equivalent which may affect the quality of blood clotting. Apply ice on the area of bleeding to control loss of blood before calling the doctor.
The doctor will have to first diagnose the underlying factor that causes hemophilia. Next he will replace the clotting factor in the blood through intravenous infusions like DDAVP. It is necessary for the relatives of the patient to test for the presence of hemophilia early.
Drugs like aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid are given for facilitating clotting of blood. These drugs are powerful for treating hemophilia A and B.
Pictures of Hemophilia :
Images, Pics, Pictures and Photos of Hemophilia
Complications :
People with hemophilia can lead normal life and have problem only when they undergo surgery. However one should be alert for detecting internal bleeding inside the organs, which may cause serious consequences.