Hemophilia: Management and Complications (Pediatric Nursing)

00:00 Treatment for hemophilia depends on the type and the severity of the disorder.

00:05 Patients can actually replace their clotting factor.

00:08 This can be done for a factors VIII and IX, and this product comes from donated human blood and you can also have a recombinant clotting factor and this is made in a lab.

00:17 The good news is patients can actually self infuse at home.

00:22 Another medication option is desmopressin which is DDAVP and this can help stimulate factor VIII release.

00:30 A patient with hemophilia A can live a relatively normal life when their condition is managed well and they receive appropriate check-ups at a comprehensive hemophilia treatment center.

00:39 But even with good hemophilia care, complications can develop and when they do, they usually require immediate medical attention since these complications can be life threatening.

00:49 One is deep internal bleeding.

00:51 This is bleeding that can occur in the deep muscle and can cause the limbs to swell.

00:55 The swelling compress on the nerves and lead to numbness or pain.

00:59 The patient can also develop hematuria or blood in the urine.

01:03 They may develop life-threatening hemorrhages and this includes into the brain.

01:07 And remember the bleeding into the joints, this is gonna cause damage.

01:10 It's gonna cause pain and arthritis and eventual destruction of the joint.

01:14 This can also press on the nerves.

01:17 Another complication is severe anemia due to the massive blood loss.

01:21 This can cause it's own cascade of complications including putting extra strain on the heart, kidney and respiratory systems.

01:29 Infection is next.

01:30 Patients with hemophilia are more likely to have blood transfusions increasing the risk of receiving contaminated blood products.

01:37 You can also have an adverse reaction to the clotting factor treatment.

01:41 In some patients with hemophilia, the immune system has a negative reaction to these clotting factors used to treat their bleeding.

01:48 When this happens, the immune system develops proteins known as inhibitors that inactivate the clotting factors making the treatment less effective.