ALISON MORRIS
Alison Morris is Senior Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist at Perth Children’s Hospital, Western Australia
It was an honour to represent Haemophilia Foundation of Australia (HFA) at the 2025 WFH (World Federation of Hemophilia) Comprehensive Care Summit in Dubai and I am pleased to share some clinical highlights and personal reflections.
Non-severe hemophilia: How do we care for the new ‘severes’
Chairs ~ Cedric Hermans, Belgium; Susan Halimeh, Germany
Describe the burden of non-severe hemophilia ~ Pratima Chowdary, UK
How do we best design studies to demonstrate benefit in non-severe hemophilia ~ Cedric Hermans, Belgium
Inhibitors in non-severe & women with bleeding disorders ~ Steven W. Pipe, USA
One particularly thought-provoking session, Non-severe haemophilia: how do we care for the new severes, described a new category of ‘non-severe’ in a presentation by Pratima Chowdary from the KD Comprehensive Care Haemophilia Centre at the UK’s Royal Free Hospital.
Dr Chowdary challenged the traditional classification of haemophilia by factor levels, mild, moderate and severe – stating that this model no longer reflects the complexity of current clinical presentations. The non-severe category now includes those with mild or moderate haemophilia, patients with severe haemophilia patients receiving non-factor therapies or post gene therapy and women with low factor levels and symptomatic bleeding.
Many in these groups remain at risk of joint disease, arthropathy and reduced quality of life. Importantly, they often have fewer interactions with Haemophilia Treatment Centres (HTCs) and have less access to education and support. This can result in the lack of recognition of bleeding episodes and subsequent delayed presentation for appropriate care. This gap must be urgently addressed through greater inclusivity and updated models of care.
Clinical cases – Roundtable discussion
Chairs ~ Christian Carulli, Italy; Carla Daffunchio, Argentina
Case #2: Patient with inhibitor: How can we manage the hematologist,
orthopedic surgery and physical therapy treatment?
Another standout session was the musculoskeletal round table clinical case session, where multidisciplinary groups, including physiotherapists, orthopaedic surgeons and haematologists, worked together on clinical problem solving.
Italian orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Christian Carulli, presented an exceedingly complex case of an adult patient with severe haemophilia and high titre inhibitors. This patient’s long term treatment journey included multiple orthopaedic surgeries for joint arthropathy, a pseudotumour, aseptic loosening of prostheses and infection. Treatment was further complicated by the interruptions to health care as a result of the COVID pandemic. Discussions explored varied treatment approaches based on geographical and economic perspectives, offering practical lessons and future directions.
Beyond the educational program, a personal highlight was the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues that I hadn’t seen since pre-COVID. The opportunity to network, share ideas and experiences is always invaluable. It is also humbling to be reminded how lucky we are living and working in Australia where so many of the challenges elsewhere in the world are eliminated.
A particularly special moment was witnessing Canadian physiotherapist Greig Blamey receive the Pietrogrande Prize, which recognises significant contributions to the work of the WFH Musculoskeletal Committee. Greig was described as ‘a gift to the musculoskeletal community whose work doesn’t end here but lives on through every patient helped, every professional trained and every conversation sparked.’ Many in the bleeding disorders community will remember the impact he had when he served as a keynote speaker at our 2019 national conference.
Finally, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Haemophilia Foundation Australia for their financial assistance which allowed me to attend this summit and encourage all readers to register their interest in the upcoming Australian Bleeding Disorders Conference in Brisbane in October 2025.
Alison Morris was funded by HFA to attend the WFH Comprehensive Care Summit as a representative of the Australia And New Zealand Haemophilia Physiotherapy Group (ANZHPG).
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