Hemophilic arthropathy: evaluation of clinical and radiological characteristics and disability

Hemophilia is an inherited bleeding disorder which produces its greatest morbidity in the musculoskeletal system. Musculoskeletal complications of hemophilia include acute hemarthrosis, chronic arthritis and hemophilic arthropathy. We studied the clinical and radiological characteristics of joint involvement in hemophiliacs. Functional loss was also demonstrated. There were 25 patients with a mean age of 17; the mean coagulant factor level was 4.2 percent. All the patients had hemarthrotic attacks. Knees were the most commonly affected joints followed by elbows, ankles and hips. The mean number of involved joints was 3.3. Even the patients with moderate disease had arthropathy. Sixty-four percent of the patients had pain and motion restrictions of the involved joints. Four patients developed intramuscular hematoma. We had patients at several radiological stages of severity. Radiological scores best correlated with age and the total number of involved joints. Various degrees of functional loss, namely disability, were observed. The disability score significantly correlated with the radiological score and age. The results of this study suggest that hemophilic arthropathy is an important problem and that multidisciplinary management is needed. Musculoskeletal care as well as appropriate and timely rehabilitation programs could prevent the development of sequelae.