Central venous access devices in patients with hemophilia

Hemophilia is a hereditary disorder in which the major clinical manifestation is bleeding into the joints, muscles, internal organs and the CNS, often without any obvious trauma. Bleeding can be fatal as in the case of CNS hemorrhage, or severely debilitating following repeated bleeding into joints that results in crippling arthritis. Treatment for hemophilia includes the intravenous administration of clotting factor concentrates to replace the missing or defective protein. Venous access is therefore critical to the treatment of hemophilia and the prevention of complications due to bleeding. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately half of patients less than 16 years of age and one-third of all patients with hemophilia receive regular prophylactic injections of clotting factor concentrates. Prophylaxis, or the regular scheduled administration of antihemophilic factor concentrate, is effective in preventing bleeding. Among those patients with severe disease, in the absence of prophylaxis, approximately 13 bleeds, including nine joint hemorrhages, occur annually. In contrast, when prophylaxis is administered, the annual number of total and joint bleeds decreases to five and three, respectively. One of the major barriers to the more wide-spread use of prophylaxis is venous access. While peripheral venipuncture remains the first choice for venous access, central venous access devices are frequently used to facilitate repeated and/or urgent administration of clotting factor concentrates. The advantages of central venous access devices are well recognized in certain treatment regimens such as prophylaxis and immune tolerance therapy, as well as certain patient groups such as young children in whom venipuncture is often difficult and traumatic, and adults with scarred veins. Central venous access devices also allow earlier commencement of both home treatment and prophylaxis. The goal of this review is to discuss the different types of central venous access devices and their role in the management of hemophilia to provide practitioners that care for patients with hemophilia with the necessary information to make sound therapeutic recommendations to their patients.