Urgent triage |
- Use the patient's bleeding plan if available.
- Contact the primary hematologist, on-call hematologist, or a hemophilia treatment center (HTC), but if unable to reach them, do not delay treatment while awaiting contact.
- Contact information for hemophilia treatment centers can be found on the CDC website (https://dbdgateway.cdc.gov/HTCDirSearch.aspx).
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Treat first, evaluate second, plan further therapy third |
- For potentially serious or life-threatening bleeding*, give factor before imaging or other evaluations.
- Initial examination findings may be subtle or absent; treat based on the medical history.
- If a diagnostic procedure is required (lumbar puncture, arterial blood gas, arthrocentesis), give factor to raise the level to 100% before performing the procedure.
- If the patient requires transfer to another facility, give factor before (or during) transport.
- For severe disease, assume the factor level is 0%.
- Do not waste factor (administer excess rather than discarding).
- Use an indwelling central catheter to administer factor if present. If not, the most experienced individuals should perform venipunctures and place an intravenous line if needed. Traumatic venipunctures can cause painful hematomas that limit intravenous access.
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Give the correct factor product |
- Hemophilia A without an inhibitor – Give factor VIII (factor 8), the patient's own product or recombinant human factor VIII. If not available, use plasma-derived factor VIII or Humate P.
- Hemophilia B without an inhibitor – Give factor IX (factor 9), the patient's own product or recombinant human factor IX. If not available, use plasma-derived factor IX.
- Hemophilia A or B with an inhibitor – A bypassing agent such as rFVIIa or FEIBA.¶
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Hemophilia A key points |
- The treatment of choice is the patient's own factor VIII product or recombinant human factor VIII. If neither is available, give plasma-derived factor VIII.
- For severe bleeding in patients without an inhibitor, give factor VIII at 40 to 50 units/kg as soon as possible to produce a factor VIII level of 80 to 100%. This administration of factor VIII also applies to people using emicizumab prophylaxis. For less-severe joint or muscle bleeding, a target factor VIII level of 40 to 50% may be used, by giving factor VIII at a dose of 20 to 25 units/kg.
- For severe bleeding in patients with an inhibitor, a bypassing product may be indicated (rFVIIa or FEIBA). Caveats are discussed below.¶
- For individuals with mild hemophilia A (baseline factor VIII 5 to 50%) who have a documented response to DDAVP and non-life-threatening (or non-limb-threatening) bleeding, DDAVP may be used.
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Hemophilia B key points |
- The treatment of choice is the patient's own factor IX product or recombinant human factor IX. If neither is available, give plasma-derived factor IX.
- For severe bleeding, give factor IX at 100 to 140 units/kg as soon as possible to produce a factor IX level of 80 to 100%. For less-severe joint or muscle bleeding, a target factor IX level of 40 to 50% may be used, by giving a factor IX at a dose of 50 to 70 units/kg.
- For patients with an inhibitor, a bypassing product (rFVIIa) may be appropriate for severe bleeding, with caveats discussed below.¶
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