Centreville Animal Hospital Newsletter
www.centrevilleanimalhosp.com

Vol. 7 Number 10   Continued...

Veterinarians, who have given some patients more than one injection depending on their condition, are not sure how long the treatment lasts, but Gaynor said that when he asked clients if it was worth the money, "Everybody has seen enough improvement that they are pleased." He added that in horses, treatment benefits have been shown to last 18 months.  This fall the therapy will become available to primary care practitioners, who can receive certification online. More than 80 veterinary specialists who have already received certification.  

Stem cell therapy has been used on about 2,800 horses since 2003, and it has received much attention. In 2007, more than 75 papers appeared in the literature about the use of this adipose-derived stem cells as well as at least 3,100 papers on adult stem cell therapy in recent years, said Linda Black, DVM, PhD, director of clinical development for VetStem Inc. , a California-based company that owns the veterinary license on the technology. Veterinarians pay $950 plus shipping for the service, which isolates stem cells from a patient's fat. 

Small animal veterinarians are using it to treat osteoarthritis and other orthopedic conditions in dogs of all ages.  Although stem cell injections do not produce visible changes in arthritic tissue they have significantly improved the lameness of dogs previously incapacitated by joint pain, said Julie Ryan Johnson, DVM, vice president of sales and marketing for VetStem.  

“It's a quality of life thing,” Ryan Johnson explained. “Dogs feel better.”     Not only do dogs feel better, they show improvements in activity levels and the procedure seems to reduce pain, say veterinary specialists who say X-rays tell only part of a story.
  

  “There's more to a therapy's efficacy than what shows up on an X-ray,” Gaynor said. “X-rays do not necessary correlate with pain and cartilage changes do not show up on X-rays.” Perhaps more importantly, he added, “Clients tell whether [a therapy] is working by what their pets do. I've never seen X-ray changes but I have seen active changes in dogs after their therapy.” Cheryl Adams, DVM, CVA, has been involved in trials since 2005, and seen impressive results from stem cell injections in dogs ranging in age from 3- to 14-years-old.  The key to success, she said, is to isolate conditions that can be treated with stem cells with good screening from primary care doctors. Screening tests should include blood work, general health profiles with thyroid levels, X-rays, and eliminating the possibility of back problems. 
 

   “People are going to expect a miracle with this,” she said, “They think stem cell therapy can treat anything.”     Although it has been licensed and used to treat several ailments in horses, ranging from polyarthritis and desmitis to fractures, stem cell therapy can only be used by small animal veterinarians to treat osteoarthritis, tendon and ligaments, polyarthritis, and fractures, said Ryan Johnson. The company is researching treatment of chronic liver disease, she added.    This fall veterinarians in general practice can log onto the VetStem website and take a three- to four-hour certification course that covers diagnosis and treatment, which requires joint injections. There are no contraindications because injected material is derived from the same patient and the technique is sterile, Ryan Johnson said. 
   

Once a diagnosis has been made, veterinarians extract tablespoons of fat from an anesthetized pet and send vials to Vet-Stem in validated tubes. The company isolates stem cells and sends the concentrate back to the clinic within 48 hours. Autologous fat cells are then injected into joints, said Ryan Johnson. Both Gaynor and Adams have also given the stem cells to dogs intravenously though joint injections will produce more focused treatment, they said. 
   

Data from horse and human studies show that adipose-derived stem cells have an anti-inflammatory (action) and can help resident cells by secreting growth factors and cytokines into the environment, said Ryan Johnson. "They can differentiate into many different cell types so they may be helping tissue regenerate," she added. Ed. Note: We'll see. The on-line course is a few weeks behind so no one here has completed it yet if you are interested.

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