Cancer Care
Idaho Hemophilia Treatment Center

The Idaho Hemophilia Treatment Center, housed in the Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Clinic at St. Luke's Mountain States Tumor Institute, cares for patients with bleeding disorders, as well as those with blood clotting problems. We are the only center in Idaho that offers comprehensive care to people with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders.

What is Hemophilia?
Hemophilia is a rare genetic bleeding disorder caused by a shortage of certain clotting factors. Blood-clotting factors are needed to help stop bleeding after a cut or injury and to prevent spontaneous bleeding. The hemophilia gene can contain many different errors, leading to different degrees of abnormality in the amount of clotting factor produced.

There are two major types of hemophilia:

• Hemophilia A is caused by a deficiency of active clotting factor VIII. Approximately 80% of all people with hemophilia have type A, and most of these cases are severe. Approximately 1 out of every 5,000 male babies is born with hemophilia A.
• Hemophilia B is caused by a lack of active clotting factor IX. It is less common, occurring in 1 out of every 30,000 male babies.

Signs and Symptoms of Hemophilia
Symptoms of hemophilia are usually first noticed during infancy or childhood. However, some people with milder forms of hemophilia may not develop symptoms until later in life.

The following signs may be noticed shortly after birth:

• Bleeding into the muscle, resulting in a deep bruise after receiving a routine vitamin K shot
• Prolonged bleeding after circumcision

Other symptoms of hemophilia include:

• Bleeding into a joint or muscle, causing pain and swelling.
• Abnormal bleeding after an injury or surgery.
• Easy bruising.
• Frequent nosebleeds.
• Blood in the urine.
• Bleeding after dental work.

Severity and frequency of bleeding episodes vary from patient to patient and may differ depending on whether the person has hemophilia A or hemophilia B.

Idaho Hemophilia Treatment Center Staff
Martin Johnston, MD, hematology
Eugenia Chang, MD, hematology
Thomas Rand, MD, PhD, infectious disease
Marni Allen, FNP
Nick Sandmeyer, RN, nurse coordinator
Becky Wiskus, social worker
David McFarland, physical therapy

Contact Us
For more information about the Idaho Hemophilia Treatment Center at St. Luke’s Mountain States Tumor Institute, please call:

Phone: (208) 381-2782
Toll Free: 1 800-845-4624

Clinic Hours
Monday - Friday
9:00 am - 5:00 pm

24 hour on-call coverage