Causes of Hemophilia
Although they are clinically indistinguishable, there are actually two causes of the syndrome of hemophilia. Hemophilia A is caused by a deficiency in factor 8. Hemophilia B is caused by a deficiency in factor 9.
The treatment for each type is repletion of the deficient factor. It is important to know the specific type of hemophilia before attempting surgery as repletion of factor 8 will not prevent or stop a life-threatening bleed caused by hemophilia B (deficient factor 9.)
Also, DDAVP can be used to treat some mild cases of hemophila A, but is not effective in hemophilia B.