Summary
The treatment of haemophilia has made significant progress in recent decades, and
patients are now being treated safely with great clotting products. However, inhibitor
development remains the largest problem, particularly in children. Consequently, the
haemostasis that was obtained with traditional clotting factors is not being achieved.
Moreover, inhibitor complications translate into adult life and there are an increasing
number of situations where adult patients with an inhibitor require major surgery
but the clinician is faced with the knowledge that required haemostasis levels are
difficult to achieve. Therefore, it is of upmost importance to consider factors relating
to inhibitor development, and to determine how inhibitors can be prevented and/or
eliminated. Of the various factors at play with regard to inhibitor development, it
is important to consider the immunogenicity of factor VIII (FVIII) products, and this
topic is the focus of the current paper.
Keywords
Haemophilia - FVIII concentrates - immunogenicity - inhibitor - von Willebrand factor