Nearly, one-third of babies who are diagnosed with hemophilia do not have any other family member with this problem. A doctor is likely to recommend getting a diagnosis of hemophilia and begin the required treatment if the child has any kind of issues with blood clotting. The process of hemophilia diagnosis basically consists of clotting factor tests and screening tests and differs on the basis of certain conditions. Here is what you need to know about the process.
Diagnosis for patients with a hemophilia family history
A doctor will ask for a thorough family history report to see if there is a bleeding disorder in the family or not. People with hemophilia often get their babies tested during the birth process itself. Here, they can plan to get the blood sample drawn out from the umbilical cord before the baby is born. This blood sample is further used to determine the severity of the clotting factors. Also, repeat hemophilia diagnosis may also be required to handle the changing severity once the baby grows older and administer proper treatment.
Diagnosis for patients with no family history of hemophilia
There are specific symptoms in babies that may call for an immediate hemophilia diagnosis. Some of these include the following:
- Elongated bleeding post circumcision.
- Elongated bleeding post blood being drawn for a screening test.
- Bleeding inside the head post a complicated delivery.
- Bleeding post the usage of special devices such as forceps and vacuum.
- An unusual number of bruises.
Methods used for the diagnosis of hemophilia include:
Screening tests
A doctor may feel the need to carry out a blood test to show if the blood is clotting properly or not. The type of screening test used for this includes the following:
- Complete Blood Count: Patients with hemophilia often show low hemoglobin and blood count. Hence, this test reflects on the possible presence of hemophilia in the body.
- Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) Test: In this test, a medical expert measures the clotting ability of different factors. It is a slightly more intricate test which an expert will carry out once the presence of hemophilia is more or less confirmed.
- Prothrombin Time (PT) Test: Similar to the APTT Test, this test also measures the time it takes for a blood clot to occur in the body.
- Fibrinogen Test: In this test, the doctor can assess the ability of a patient’s body to form a blood clot. This test may accompany other blood clotting tests or simply be carried out post an abnormal report of a PT test.
Clotting Factor tests
A doctor may even advise you to undertake clotting factor tests. These may be required for the proper diagnosis of any bleeding disorder. This test shows which type of hemophilia is present in the body. It also shows the severity of the condition for proper hemophilia diagnosis and treatment measures.
Depending on whether there is a family history of the disease or not, your medical advisor will decide how to carry out tests. In most cases, it will either be a singular method used from the above list or sometimes, a combination to get better results.
