Radical stem cell therapy

[no_no_nanette]

Reports this morning in the media of treatments that are being developed that could radically advance the body's ability to heal itself (bone, muscle, ligament damage ...) through the use of stem cells set me thinking about how and whether these treatments will be available for horses in the future, and how many lives they might save, and how many horses (like my eventing mare) who have had to be prematurely retired due to tendon/ligament damage, these treatments might return to full competitive lives .... Alll very exciting, though some time in the future I guess

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

Stem cell is here and available for horses- has been for a while. My OH's horse had cells harvested to treat PSD (suspensory lig. damage) in Dec 06 but sadly died of unrelated colic 4 weeks later so we never had a chance to see if it had worked. Its very expensive and we were grateful that the NFU were happy to try the therapy.

 

[Llwyncwn]

Two horses on the yard had tendon injuries at the same time last year. My friends cob mare had A-Cell injections, taken from pigs bladder which were rejected and her leg blew up. 6 months later and still on box rest, plus horse walker, the 3 small holes she had are not there anymore and the tear is half the size. Is this due to the therapy or rest?

I decided not to put my mare through this. She had 3 months box rest followed by a strict in hand and then under saddle regime. After 12 weeks my mare is fine and her one legion doesnt show up on the scanner.

The other option, which will cost around £5k is to have cells taken from your horses bone marrow and sent awayv to be cultured, ready for implant. These work better.