Hemophilia Clotting Cascade - How does your body stop bleeding?

Learn more about blood clotting and how factor replacement therapy works.
This video is provided for general information only. It does not replace a diagnosis or medical advice from a healthcare professional who has examined your child and understands their unique needs. Please speak with your doctor to check if the content is suitable for your situation.
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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Hemophilia clotting cascade. How does your body stop bleeding? Learn more about blood clotting and how factor replacement therapy works. Blood cells run through blood vessels. When a blood vessel within the body is damaged, it starts bleeding. Your body responds quickly to stop blood loss.
This process, to stop bleeding, is called hemostasis. Hemostasis has three parts.
Part one: Vasoconstriction. This is an immediate reflex that causes the damaged blood vessels to tighten up, or constrict, to prevent blood loss.
Part two: Platelet plug. Platelets are one of the important cells in the blood. Platelets will stick to the site of damage and begin the process of repair.
Once the platelets stick to the damaged area, they release various substances that attract more platelets to the area, forming a platelet plug. Part 3: Coagulation or clotting. Coagulation is the last part of hemostasis. It is a very complex process that strengthens the forming platelet plug.
Let's view this process in more detail. There are many different kinds of factors in the blood that activate each other in a chain reaction that eventually activates a substance called fibrin.
Fibrin initially forms a loose mesh but will eventually become a more dense cluster of fibers. Red blood cells become caught in this mesh, forming a blood clot over the platelet plug.
This makes the whole patch stronger and stops the bleeding. In hemophilia, one of the factors might be missing, or they are in low supply in the body. Without all the factors working together, the body is not able to form a blood clot. Factor replacement therapy is used to treat hemophilia.
An infusion of concentrated factors will be injected into the bloodstream.
They work in your body the same way natural factors do to allow your blood to clot.
Unfortunately, these clotting factors do not stay in the blood permanently.
Factor replacement therapy will need to be repeated on a regular basis or each time a bleed occurs.
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