Evidence-based treatment of haemophilia

P H B Bolton-Maggs1, K Stobart, R L Smyth

  • 1Department of Clinical Haematology, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester M13 9WL, UK. paula.bolton-maggs@man.ac.uk

Haemophilia care is effective but therapy is expensive. Despite concentrates being available in some areas for more than 30 years, many scientific questions concerning the management of haemophilia, such as what doses and duration of factor are required for different bleeding episodes or for surgical procedures, remain inadequately answered. Modern rigorous methods of assessment of the evidence both assist in determining what facts are available, how reliable the evidence is, and also help to define what studies need to be done. Cochrane methodology can be applied to haemophilia, and an assessment of prophylaxis provides an example. International collaborative studies would be valuable and require enthusiastic participants.

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