Hematology: Help for Hemophiliacs

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The greater concentration makes it possible to give the normally required amount of AHF by hypodermic injection into a vein—and in only five minutes. Moreover, this can be done in the doctor's office or an out-patient clinic. One of the first and most grateful beneficiaries of the new treatment system is David M. Raatz, a California attorney who lives in Monrovia and practices in San Marino. At 26, Raatz has had gallons of plasma and concentrates to stanch the bleeding that recurs most commonly in his ankles, knees and elbows. He never used to know when he would be able to appear in court when a case was called; at best, he might have to hobble in on crutches.

"Now," says Raatz, "I can do much more work and stay on the trial calendar. Clients have more confidence in me, now that I'm available regularly. No one who is not a hemophiliac can imagine what a relief it is to be able to work on schedule." His wife Joan recently bore the Raatzes' second baby. Like the first, it was a boy. And by a Mendelian pattern of inheritance, a hemophiliac cannot transmit the disease to a son.

Do It Yourself Cost is still a problem. For a patient like Raatz, there is no predicting how often he will need AHF, or just how much. His expenses have run as high as $150 in a week, but for him and most other patients they average about that per month over the long run. Prices are expected to come down when the supply increases. The demand is there: U.S. hemophiliacs need the AHF from 1,000,000 pints of blood each year.

Dr. Shanbrom foresees a day when patients will enjoy still greater convenience. Some batches of AHF concentrate have been made 1,000 times more potent than plasma. Eventually, Brinkhous is confident, this will become the standard AHF, so safe and stable that hemophilia victims will be able to carry it around and inject it themselves, into muscle, just as diabetics now do with insulin.