Head trauma in hemophilia. A prospective study.

Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) remains a serious problem in hemophilia. Consecutive episodes of ICH or reports of head trauma were prospectively recorded in 140 patients with hemophilia seen during a two-year period. Forty of 48 consecutive episodes of ICH or trauma occurred in 37 patients with severe disease (less than 1% factor VIII or IX). Five injured patients had inhibitors to factor VIII. Two fatalities occurred following injury and one patient died following a spontaneous bleed. Injury in 40 instances warranted replacement therapy. No patient given coagulation factor within six hours of injury experienced ICH. The risk of ICH following head trauma (13% in this series) warrants aggressive use of coagulation factor replacement. Watchfulness in dealing with such patients and early therapy may be more necessary than often realized.