VALENCIA, Apr. 17 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe has promoted a research project based on data analysis and artificial intelligence algorithms to detect early the problems that patients with hemophilia develop.
It is a joint work of the Hematology services and the Diagnostic Imaging area of ??Hospital La Fe, directed by Luis Martí-Bonmatí, based on artificial intelligence algorithms applied to the PET-Magnetic Resonance radiological technique, as explained the Generalitat in a statement.
The project aims to “detect changes that can predict the development of serious joint problems, renal and cardiovascular disease, or cognitive problems in patients with hemophilia due to microbleeds, and that have the potential to be avoided with careful selection and personalized adjustment of hemostatic treatment.” they receive in the form of prophylaxis”, according to the head of the Hematology and Thrombosis Unit of the Hematology service of Hospital La Fe, Santiago Bonanad.
World Hemophilia Day is celebrated every April 17 with the purpose of informing and raising awareness among the general population about hemophilia, a hereditary disease that affects some 4,500 people in our country and which, according to the World Federation of Hemophilia, affects 233,577 people in the world.
The Congenital Coagulopathies Unit of Hospital La Fe, a reference in the Valencian Community since 1989, has registered some 450 patients, both in severe, moderate and mild forms of hemophilia A and B, as well as many other coagulation disorders, congenital or acquired.
The comprehensive care that patients with hemophilia receive at Hospital La Fe is carried out by a multidisciplinary team made up of professionals from Hematology, Pharmacy, Pediatrics, Physiotherapy, Nursing, Psychology, Traumatology, Infectious, Radiology and Genetics.
Hemophilia is an inherited disease caused by a lack of certain coagulation factors due to mutations in the genes that encode those factors. These genes are located on the X chromosome, so in general the disease is suffered by men and women act as carriers of the disease.
In hemophilia A, the most common, there is a deficiency of coagulation factor VIII, while in hemophilia B, the deficiency affects factor IX. As a consequence of these deficiencies, there is a predisposition to bleeding, especially joint and muscle. Bleeding can be extremely serious in very specific cases, for example, if it affects the central nervous system.
The treatment of hemophilia has experienced great progress in a few years, and the Congenital Coagulopathies Unit of La Fe has played a leading role by participating in numerous clinical trials with which it has contributed to the availability of numerous drugs on the market.
“The standard treatment of the severe forms is carried out with the preventive administration of intravenous factor VIII or factor IX; more recently with therapies based on monoclonal antibodies and in the near future, gene therapy. The benefit of the new treatments and procedures consists in the a very significant reduction in the frequency and severity of bleeding”, explains Dr. Santiago Bonanad.
“Patients with hemophilia currently enjoy a life expectancy similar to the general population thanks to the significant improvements achieved in prophylaxis guidelines,” he adds.
