What is hemophilia

People who often watch Korean dramas or Taiwanese dramas must have heard of various "terminal illnesses". In fact, many diseases will not cause danger of illness unless they develop to a certain extent. For example, hemophilia used to appear frequently in TV dramas. Many people were terrified when they heard about it, and after suffering from it, they felt like the sky was falling. But hemophilia is actually a genetic disease, and it is not as scary as imagined.

What kind of disease is hemophilia? What are the types of hemophilia? Are all cases of hemophilia fatal? When many people mention hemophilia, their minds are full of questions and they have no idea about anything. The following is an answer from several aspects.

Hemophilia is a group of inherited bleeding disorders with coagulation disorders, divided into four types:

(1) In severe cases, the FⅧ activity in plasma is less than 1%. Bleeding often occurs before the age of 2 years. Bleeding symptoms may occur after the baby starts to crawl and walk, and bleeding may even not stop when the umbilical cord is tied. Patients have multiple and severe bleeding sites, often with repeated bleeding in subcutaneous, muscular and joint areas, and intra-articular hematoma deformity is common. In addition, renal bleeding leading to hematuria, gastrointestinal bleeding, and intra-abdominal bleeding may also be seen, while bleeding in the lungs, chest cavity, and brain is rare.

(2) Intermediate FⅧ activity is 1% to 5%. The disease begins after childhood and is mostly subcutaneous and muscular bleeding. There are also joint bleeding, but the number of recurrences is less and the severity is less than that of the severe type.

(3) Mild FVIII activity is 5% to 25%. Bleeding usually occurs in adolescence and is discovered due to persistent bleeding after exercise, tooth extraction or surgery. Bleeding is mild and the patient can lead a normal life and participate in sports. Joint hematomas may occur occasionally.

(4) Subclinical type: Bleeding occurs only after major surgery. Laboratory tests can confirm this disease, with FⅧ activity of 25% to 40%. Generally speaking, the earlier the bleeding symptoms appear, the more serious the condition. With age, the bleeding symptoms may gradually alleviate, and sometimes there may be a remission period without bleeding symptoms. Bleeding may occur hours or days after the trauma, or may continue to ooze blood immediately after the trauma or surgery.

From the above explanation, we can understand that hemophilia is inherited from the family and there are different types. Severe hemophilia is like a "terminal illness" as shown on TV, while mild hemophilia can be controlled. After understanding this knowledge, you will not follow the crowd and panic. You will be able to infer the dangers of related diseases based on scientific evidence and not jump to conclusions.