Director, International Hemophilia Training Centre (IHTC) Shabrawishi Hospital Cairo, Egypt
Patients with bleeding disorders are under the threat of bleeding during their lives. Bleeding episodes can vary from minimal bleeding for patients receiving sufficient prophylaxis for prevention of bleeding and the same is true for patients with mild disease. These patients should be regularly reviewed for the possible complications of these minimal bleeds on the long term. It is also important to adjust prophylaxis to optimize both CFCs and frequency of infusions. Patients with severe phenotype and without sufficient prophylaxis to prevent mild, moderate or severe bleeding will require closer medical consultations and more frequent periodic visits for closer monitor of bleeding complications. Another reason for the periodic clinic visits is the laboratory screening for inhibitor development of neutralizing antibodies against clotting factor concentrates. Physiotherapy and orthopedic interventions should be done after consultation with the hematologist. Patients will require visits for psychological support particularly during transition from childhood to adult age. Patients who developed transfusion transmitted infections such as hepatitis B & C as well as HIV will need consultations from both virologist and hematologist Patients who will develop aging complications such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or cancer will need multidisciplinary consultations including hematologist
Conclusion: patients with bleeding disorders should regularly visit their comprehensive care clinics for optimum control of their medical conditions, prevention and treatment of complications for better quality of life.
Learning Objectives:
The presentation will discuss the different clinical presentations of patients with bleeding disorders during their life and their need for periodic visits to the clinic to manage their condition
