Treatment of patients with hemophilia A and inhibitors to factor FVIII with cimetidine

ABSTRACT

In this study, cimetidine was used to treat patients with hemophilia A and inhibitors to factor VIII who presented with acute hemorrhages (Group A) and those without hemorrahges (Group B). The dose of cimetidine was 15 mg/kg/day. Group A consisted of five patients with inhibitors between 156 and > 10,000 Bethesda Units (BU), all with serious hemorrhagic problems. The control of hemorrhaging was effective in 100 per cent of these patients, although inhibitor levels remained high (25-380 BU). Group B consisted of seven patients who did not have hemorrhages, whose inhibitor levels were 41-358 BU. Five of these patients no longer had anamnestic responses to Factor VIII after several months of treatment with cimetidine. No difference in the response to cimetidine was seen between HIV positive and HIV negative patients. The results suggest that cimetidine is useful to suppress inhibitores to Factor VIII in patients with hemophilia A