What To Think About

Adults and parents of children who have hemophilia can learn to inject replacement clotting factors. Children may also be taught to infuse themselves with clotting factors at about age 10. Younger children and those who have developed antibodies (inhibitors) may not be able to infuse themselves.

If you are considering regularly scheduled clotting factor treatments, talk with your doctor. Together you can discuss the medical information and your personal preferences. Then you can decide what is right for you.

To make your decision, consider:

• The benefits and risks of regularly scheduled treatment (prophylaxis) to prevent bleeding. Compare them to the benefits and risks of giving yourself injections only when you need them, in response to a bleed or before an activity that may cause bleeding.
• Whether you want to give yourself the injections on a regular schedule or only when you need them.
• What types of activities you do and if they raise the risk of a bleeding episode.
• How much the cost of therapy matters to you. Getting regularly scheduled treatment can be very expensive. Health insurers may not cover the cost.

Complete the special treatment information form (PDF)(What is a PDF document?) to help you understand this treatment.

Source: http://www.webmd.com

How Well It Works

If you have a bleed, the infusion of clotting factors stops bleeding within hours, although the exact amount of time varies. Heavy bleeding takes longer to control than light bleeding. If the proper amount of clotting factors is given, bleeding will stop normally.

Clotting factors can prevent bleeding when they are given before a procedure, surgery, or an activity that has a high risk of causing a bleeding problem.

If you get clotting factors on a regular schedule to prevent bleeding, you likely will have fewer bleeding episodes. You might also have a lower risk of problems linked to bleeding. These problems include long-term damage from repeated bleeding into your muscles or joints.

Source: http://www.webmd.com