StemCellsChina.com
Fill out my online form.
Weitere Neuigkeiten
| Wonders of Stem-cell Breakthroughs for Pets |
 |
 |
| Arthritis |
| Dienstag, 12. Februar 2008 um 08:14 Uhr |
|
There are no translations available. Source: Sun Herald How often have you watched a news program about some fabulous new medical advancement, only to discover the treatment is still in testing and years away from clinical use? Well, thanks to a new type of treatment called regenerative cell therapy, that potentially fabulous medical treatment is available for pets now. A company named Vet-Stem is providing the technology to make this treatment available. This therapy uses the pet's own stem cells to deliver a functionally diverse cell population able to communicate with other cells in their local environment and provide potential treatment for a wide range of difficult-to-treat diseases and injuries. Wow. What does that mean? Firstly, we are talking about adult stem cells, not embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells fall into the category of a potentially fabulous medical therapy which is still years away and filled with controversy. Adult stem cells, on the other hand, are easily obtained from each patient by simply surgically removing a couple tablespoons of fat from underneath the patient's skin. The fat sample is then sent to Vet-Stem in San Diego County, Calif., where they specially process the fat to extract the stem cells. The patient's own stem-cell samples are then sent back to the original veterinarian to use in his or her patient. Your pet's veterinarian can then inject the stem cells either intravenously or directly into the affected tissue or joint. The main area of treatment for dogs is for arthritis, specifically, chronic osteoarthritis. To date, this therapy has been used to treat more than 300 dogs. It has also been used successfully in more than 3,000 horses to treat joint and tendon problems and it has been used in many human trial cases. Because it is using the dog's own cells, this treatment has proven safe and has a low incidence of side effects. Because it's so new, there have been only a couple of true scientific studies evaluating the treatment's effectiveness. The results of those studies demonstrated no significant systemic adverse events and the therapy has helped many pets who before treatment were experiencing daily pain and dysfunction. Chronic arthritis is especially common in older pets and in fact is the most common cause of chronic pain in dogs. Traditional therapy using NSAIDs and nutritional products does help some patients but seems poorly effective in others. For me as a veterinarian, seeing my older patients come into my clinic barely able to get up and move is truly heart-wrenching. The prospect of being able to help these patients is very exciting, especially in patients I was previously unable to help. As with any new therapy, our profession will continue monitoring treated cases with the hope of continued treatment successes. If you would like more information the company has a Web site, vet-stem.com. The site includes information about previous patient successes, technical information and how to find a veterinarian in your area who is presently credentialed to utilize this therapy for their patients. |