Ophthalmic surgery in haemophilia

A wide range of ophthalmic surgical procedures were conducted in five patie nts with haemophilia of varying severity (one severe and four mild) aged be tween 8 and 75 years. The operations included intraocular lens implantation , trabeculectomy and vitrectomy. Successful postoperative outcome with haem ostasis was achieved in all patients with moderate use of clotting factor c oncentrates (3000-7000 IU), simultaneous use of oral epsilon amino caproic acid therapy and intravenous deamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (desmopressin ; DDAVP) wherever feasible. None of the patients had circulating inhibitor. One of the patients with milder disease (FVIII 32%) was referred to us aft er he was operated on for hyphaema elsewhere, without prior knowledge of hi s diagnosis of haemophilia. Thus, satisfactory eye surgery in patients with haemophilia is possible with a restricted amount of factor concentrates wi th gratifying results.