Bleeding & Clotting Disorders in Children

Bleeding & Clotting Disorders in Children

When your child lives with a bleeding or clotting disorder, you want to work with expert healthcare professionals to get complete, personalized care that addresses all aspects of your child’s life and the specific issues related to this challenging health condition.

Nationally Recognized Care for Bleeding & Clotting Disorders

Look no further than Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma’s only comprehensive center for bleeding and clotting disorders in children and adults.

Recognized by the National Hemophilia Foundation as one of approximately 140 federally funded hemophilia treatment centers in the United States, our program receives support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Maternal Child Health for its extensive array of services.

Signs of Bleeding Disorders in Children

An inherited condition and the most common type of bleeding disorder in children, hemophilia causes excessive bleeding because blood doesn’t contain the necessary clotting factors. As a result, an injury or accident may create heavy, uncontrollable or life-threatening bleeding. Other signs of a bleeding or clotting disorder include:

  • Bleeding or bruising easily – Frequent nosebleeds, bleeding when brushing teeth, bruising with minimal activity or touch
  • Blood in urine or stool
  • Bleeding into joints (hemarthrosis) – Causes pain, immobility or deformity if not treated quickly; may lead to chronic arthritis
  • Bleeding into muscles – Swelling, redness and pain from increased pressure on nerves and tissues
  • Bleeding in the brain – May create serious complications such as blindness, intellectual disability or neurological problems

Types of Hemophilia

Your child may experience one of three types of hemophilia. Each involves the lack of a necessary clotting factor in the blood.

  • Hemophilia A – Classic hemophilia; blood lacks clotting factor VIII
  • Hemophilia B – Christmas disease; clotting factor IX deficiency
  • Hemophilia C – Clotting factor XI deficiency

Other Bleeding Disorders

You’ll also find expert care and treatment through the OCBCD at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital for a wide range of other bleeding disorders, including:

Explore additional information about other factor deficiencies through the National Hemophilia Foundation.

Diagnosing Bleeding & Clotting Disorders in Children

Depending on the nature of your child’s bleeding disorder, a diagnosis may not occur unless they experience a heavy-bleeding event such as surgery or accident. At that point, your doctor may use any of several diagnostic methods and tests, including:

  • Complete blood count (CBC) – Blood analysis to determine levels of red blood cells, hematocrit, hemoglobin, white blood cells, platelets (blood clotting cells)
  • Clotting factors – Elements that help blood form clots to stop bleeding
  • Coagulation factor deficiency screening tests
  • Platelet function assessments
  • Genetic or DNA testing – Review of family history related to bleeding or clotting disorders

Treatments for Bleeding Disorders in Children

When you partner with Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health to treat your child’s bleeding or clotting disorder, you work with a multidisciplinary team of specialists who focus on developing the best health outcomes for your child’s specific situation.

Treating Hemophilia in Children

If your child lives with hemophilia, you’ll find a wide range of treatment methods through our program. Depending on your child’s age, symptoms, severity and type of bleeding disorder, you and your child’s doctor may take advantage of options such as:

  • Surgery or immobilization – Helps reduce bleeding into joints or into the brain; may require follow-up rehabilitation, including physical therapy and exercise
  • Ultrasonography – Assesses joint bleeding and joint status
  • Transfusion – Replaces lost amounts of blood
  • Factor replacement therapy – Ongoing care, often home-based, to improve quality of life
  • Advanced non-factor therapies for hemophilia and other blood disorders
  • Clinical trials – Early access to the latest therapies for bleeding and clotting disorders for qualified participants

Factor at Home Replacement Therapy for Bleeding Disorders

Home-based clotting-factor replacement therapy may allow you to participate in your child’s treatment in a comfortable, familiar setting. The Factor at Home program through Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health helps children and adults avoid serious complications from uncontrolled bleeding. When you or your loved ones use Factor at Home, you also may decrease pain, dysfunction and long-term disability that can result from complications of hemophilia.

Treatment for Clotting Disorders in Children

Less common in children than in adults, other blood-related disorders may increase the likelihood of excessive blood clots. For the condition known as thrombophilia, diagnosis often follows a family history of clotting disorders or a thrombotic event such as:

Treating Thrombophilia in Children

For thrombophilia, your child may need to take blood-thinning medications, especially around the time of major surgery, when they need extra help to control excessive clotting created by this condition. Through Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health, you’ll work with a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals for a whole-person approach to effectively address thrombophilia and increase your child’s quality of life now and as they grow up.

The Hemophilia Treatment Center Difference

Treatment of bleeding and clotting disorders at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health gives you access to the latest medical care, as well as innovative options from extensive research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Phase I clinical trials conducted in our Oklahoma City facilities and a wide array of cooperative group studies through the American Thrombosis and Hemostasis Network (ATHN).

In addition, your child benefits from our participation in the national network of Hemophilia Treatment Centers, where experts deliver comprehensive treatment for blood-related diseases and disorders. Treatment at a center like ours significantly improves quality of life by lowering complications, providing cost-effective long-term care with 40 percent fewer hospitalizations, and allowing a more independent and productive way of living.

Your Expert Pediatric Bleeding & Clotting Disorders Care Team

At each visit to our team at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health, your physicians and nurses talk thoroughly with you and your family about every aspect of life affected by these challenging health conditions.

Your highly trained and extensively experienced multidisciplinary team members may include board-certified hematologist-oncologists, certified hemophilia and thrombophilia physician assistants (PAs) advanced practice providers with expertise in bleeding and clotting disorders, pediatric nurse practitioners (PNP), nurse coordinators, and PhD and Master’s level clinical psychologists and social workers, as well as physical therapists, clinical research staff and a variety of expert healthcare professionals to consult on your care.

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