Most Recent Clinical Evidence in Dogs
Stem cell therapies have been shown to improve clinical signs of canine OA, to promote healing in tendinopathies and improve the structural damage caused by the disease.
Armitage, Andrew J., Joanna M. Miller, Tim H. Sparks, Alex E. Georgiou, and Jacqueline Reid. "Efficacy of autologous mesenchymal stromal cell treatment for chronic degenerative musculoskeletal conditions in dogs: A retrospective study." Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9 (2023): 1014687.
Significant clinical effects have been demonstrated in moderate to severe hip, shoulder, stifle and elbow OA in dogs following a single injection of allogeneic, culture –expanded stem cells. A randomised, placebo controlled study, September 2016, Robert Harman et al.
In canine hip OA, mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy demonstrated superior efficacy results at 6 months when compared with PRP.
Cultured stem cell and stromal cell therapies are now recognised by the for pain management for OA in dogs and cats.
Significant clinical improvements in healing have been found in dogs with shoulder tendinopathies(ST) following stem cell-PRP treatment. This protocol has been reported as promising for dogs with ST, especially those who have failed to respond to conservative management and rehabilitation therapy. Canapp et al, Sept 2016.
Improvements in clinical symptoms and a significantly greater duration of efficacy after a single stem cell injection compared with an NSAID (Trocoxil) in degenerative elbow disease has been reported in a small, controlled study by Nicpon et al.
How do Stem Cells work?
Mesenchymal Stem Cells can expand, self-renew and control the behaviour of other cells in their environment.
A naturally occurring, living therapy, stem cells are effectively the body’s own repair kit, acting to modulate tissue inflammation and encouraging protection, repair and regeneration of damaged tissue.
Literature reviews and further reading
In March 2014, Prof John Innes and Dr Ben Walton published a review of the published pre-clinical and early clinical data investigating the role of stem in small animal medicine. The authors concluded “In small animal orthopaedics at least, perhaps the most promising application is in the treatment of joint disease".
Orthopaedic veterinary specialist, Assistant Professor Karen Perry, published a review in April 2016 in which she examined extensive literature on the use of stem cell injections for degenerative joint disease.
This review concluded that “current evidence supports the use of stem cells in (OA) patients that have failed to respond adequately to more conventional therapies” and “may offer an option whereby (salvage) surgical management can either be delayed or avoided without condemning the patient to a life of ongoing discomfort”. www.vettimes.co.uk/article/using-cellular-therapies-for-canine-joint-treatment-part-1
Interestingly, the author only describes the availability of adipose-derived “ same day” or Stromal Vascular Fraction (SVF) therapy and does not discuss the important differences between SVF and culture-expanded stem cell therapy. Our company only provides stem cell therapies using cells grown in culture – for the many reasons described in the poster attached below “ Stem Cell Therapies are Not all the Same”
