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A group of drugs used to treat bleeding disorders such as haemophilia. Factor VIII is one of the clotting factors available for treatment, and preparations of it are injected after abnormal bleeding or before surgery. Vitamin K preparations are another haemostatic group used to treat an overdose of anticoagulant drugs.  

This is the basic cell from which all types of blood cells originate. Its appearance is believed to be similar to that of a lymphocyte.  

Abnormal haemoglobin formation occurs in these conditions, which are hereditary haemolytic anaemias. The haemoglobin may be abnormal because: (1) there is a defect in the synthesis of normal adult haemoglobin as in thalassaemia, when there may be an absence of one or both of the polypeptide chains that characterise normal adult haemoglobin; or (2) there…

A technique similar to haemodialysis. Blood is dialysed using ultrafiltration through a membrane permeable to water and small molecules (molecular weight <12,000). Physiological saline solution is simultaneously reinfused.    

Unusual sounds heard over the heart and large blood vessels in severe cases of anaemia. They disappear as the condition improves.  

Also known as packed cell volume, this is an expression of the fraction of blood volume occupied by the erythrocytes and is helpful in diagnosing various types of anaemia. It is measured by centrifuging a sample of blood in a capillary tube and measuring the height of the resulting packed cells as a percentage of…