LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Antihemophilic Factor: Patients
built 275 days ago
This agent is prepared from constituents of normal human plasma (antihemophilic factor/von Willebrand factor complex) that are required for clotting. The administration of this agent temporarily increases the plasma level of factor VIII, which decreases the hazard of hemorrhage. Factor VIII serves as an essential cofactor in the activation of factor X, leading to the formation of thrombin and fibrin. Von Willebrand factor promotes platelet aggregation and adhesion on damaged vascular endothelium and serves as a stabilizing carrier protein for factor VIII. This treatment was approved on January 31, 2007, for surgical and/or invasive procedures in patients with von Willebrand disease in whom desmopressin is either ineffective or contraindicated. The agent is not indicated for patients with severe von Willebrand disease who are undergoing major surgery.
Antihemophilic factor (AHF) is a protein found in normal plasma which is necessary for clot formation. The administration of AHF provides an increase in plasma levels of AHF and can temporarily correct the coagulation defect of patients with hemophilia A (classical hemophilia).
Source:
Treatment of von Willebrand disease with two plasma antihemophilic factor (AHF) concentrates, cryoprecipitate and glycine-precipitated AHF, was compared. Both concentrates were equally effective in immediately raising the plasma levels of factor VIII, the factor VIII-related antigen, and the ristocetin-related von Willebrand factor (vWF) and in stimulating a secondary rise in plasma factor VIII. Given either concentrate, the vWF activity, the antigen, and factor VIII levels were normalized in a patient with von Willebrand disease. However, correction of the prolonged bleeding time and control of bleeding occurred only with the cryoprecipitate. The bleeding-time corrective factor and the ristocetin-related vWF or platelet-aggregating factor are dissociable, distinct activites.
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