Now Reading: Haemophilia diagnosis gap in India risks preventable blindness
-
01
Haemophilia diagnosis gap in India risks preventable blindness
A retrospective study at a government hospital in India found that bleeding in and around the eye accounted for 13% of all haemophilia bleeds, the Hindu reports. Posterior segment bleeds led to…
The Story in Brief
A retrospective study at a government hospital in India found that bleeding in and around the eye accounted for 13% of all haemophilia bleeds, the Hindu reports. Posterior segment bleeds led to permanent vision loss in the affected eye. Sudden symptoms like headache without injury can delay diagnosis, and the window to correct clotting factor levels is short.
India has the world's second-largest haemophilia burden, with an estimated 1,36,000 cases, but many remain undiagnosed due to low awareness and labs concentrated in a few metros, the Hindu says. About a third of those born with haemophilia have no family history. The Hindu notes that pre-operative panels often miss clotting factor deficiencies, putting patients at risk during eye surgery.
The Indian Opinion
The orthopaedic toll of haemophilia gets most attention, but the Hindu report rightly shifts the focus to vision loss, irreversible and often missed. The narrative that the diagnosis gap is a slow-building problem ignores that an eye can be lost in hours. Pre-operative checklists that skip a bleeding history or an APTT test are a fixable failure. The test will be whether hospitals update their emergency protocols for ocular surgery before more patients lose sight needlessly.
Sources (2): deccanherald.com, thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
