Joint Bleeding Tendencies in Adult Patients With Hemophilia: It’s Not All Pharmacokinetics

Hemophilic arthropathy from joint bleeding remains a complication with major morbidity in the increasingly aging patients with hemophilia. Prophylactic clotting factor infusions, based on pharmacokinetic dosing to reduce bleeding rates, are being explored more and more. However, there is little evidence on the benefits of pharmacokinetic dosing in direct association with bleeding events. Here, we prospectively followed a cohort of adult patients with hemophilia A and B (n = 26) and arthropathic joints on various clotting factor products over a period of 2 years with clinical and radiographic joint health assessments, frequent joint ultrasound, and pharmacokinetic studies. Joint bleeds and synovitis with synovial vascularity changes were objectively diagnosed by musculoskeletal ultrasound and power Doppler and analyzed in relation to pharmacokinetic, joint- and patient-specific parameters. Results revealed that, contrary to common beliefs, bleeding episodes were not readily explained by pharmacokinetic features, as they were not associated with more time spent below certain clotting factor thresholds. Joint bleeding was found to be associated with prominent vascularity changes, suggesting that vascular remodeling and leakiness may contribute to joint bleeding that cannot be prevented by clotting factor replacement alone.