Hemophilia 4 Essay Research Paper Hemophilia is

Hemophilia 4 Essay, Research Paper

Hemophilia is the best known of hemorrhagic disorders. When a person has hemophilia, the blood does not clot properly and bleeding persists. The people who have hemophilia are called hemophiliacs or bleeders. Bleeding disorders, such as hemophilia, result from a disruption of the body’s process of how blood clots are formed. The coagulation process involve platelets as well as plasma proteins called clotting factors. Clotting begins when platelets stick to the site of an injury to a blood vessel. The proteins in the plasma that cause blood to clot is absent.

Hemophilia is named from a Greek word meaning ” fond of blood”. There are two types of hemophilia. Hemophilia A, which is the most common and is also called classic hemophilia. Hemophilia B or Christmas disease, named after the first patient diagnosed and treated with hemophilia B. Hemophilia B lacks AHF (antihemophilic factor). About 85% of hemophiliacs have classic or hemophilia A. Hemophilia A’s blood lacks the clotting factor eight. The rest of the 85% have Christmas, which lacks clotting factor nine. An extremely small number of hemophiliacs lack yet another kind of clotting factor.

Both A and B forms have also been called the royal disease. Hemophilia was inherited by decedents of England’s Queen Victoria and introduced into the royal houses of Spain, Germany, and Russia.

Hemophilia A and B are caused by genes that are sex linked and recessive. A defective gene on the X chromosome, one of the two chromosomes, that determine a person’s sex. The Y chromosomes which has no genes for clotting is the other chromosome. Males have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. Girls have two X chromosomes. A boy who inherits the hemophilia defect on his X chromosome will most defiantly will be a hemophiliac. A girl who inherits the defective gene on her X chromosome will be a carrier instead of hemophiliac, because the normal gene on her X chromosome provides enough for the most needed clotting factor. She might transmit the defective gene to her children. It is

very rare for a girl to have hemophilia. Most often hemophilia occurs in

families who have a history of diseases which pass from grandfather to grandson through the mother who is a carry. It does pop up in families which the disease hasn’t been previous. This is not yet determine why.

The major problem for hemophiliac’s isn’t external cuts which can be treated with pressure and bandages, but it is uncontrolled internal bleeding. The amount of bleeding various from person to person. The more severe forms of hemophilia become visible early in life. Newborns often show no signs of hemophilia unless the are circumcised . This causes extensive bleeding. If the infant is not circumcised, signs of hemophilia don’t show until a child starts crawling or walking in which bruised markings appear were they have fallen or hit something. Hemophilia, in mild forms, may not show up later in life, until extensive bleeding occurs only after surgery, tooth extraction, or major injury to any body parts.

A physician can diagnose hemophilia by using specialized laboratory tests to measure the clotting activity of factors eight and nine, or other factors for that matter. Further investigating can occasionally turn up the condition in other members of the family. The way current medical treatment is advancing, people with hemophilia can have a close to average life expectancy. Although the disease is life long, it can be controlled with medication or the administration of clotting factors. This allows a relatively normal life. Depending on how severe the hemophilia is in a patient, it may be necessary to take extra care to decrease bleeding as a result of physical activity. If hemophilia is in advanced stages, it may lead to anemia as a result of excessive and continuous blood loss. Bleeding in the joints can occur in this stage. It can cause very painful swelling which over a long period of time can lead to permanent deformity and hemophilic arthritis. Sometimes the disorder becomes more difficult to control because antibodies develop to the clotting factor that has been used in treatment. Treating bleeding outbreaks may involve the administration of AHF alone to speed up clotting. Without treatment, reoccurring bleeding into the joints

can happen. This causes chronic pain and weakness and can destroy joints all together. Blood has also been known to gather around the neck, head, or in the digestive system. This condition is extremely dangerous and extremely serious. In order to prevent joint destruction all bleeding episodes of a hemophilic should be treated right away by infusion of a clotting factor replacement, a medicine called desmopressin. If you have hemophilia or think you may carry the trait, prenatal testing and genetic counseling can help you wether or not your child could inherit hemophilia.

There is special treatment for hemophiliacs. Already the drug desmopressin was brought to your attention. This drug helps stop bleeding by stimulating the release factor eight and making blood contract. If you have hemophilia B or a more severe case of hemophilia A, bleeding episodes may stop only after the missing clotting factors are replaced by infusion. These clotting factors are derived from donated human blood and are supplied as purification concentrates ( a clotting factor