Stem Cell Therapy Goes to the Dogs

Sept. 13, 2007 - Mike Zaremba, an operations manager for a software company in Denver, was desperate and searching. His dog Nakota, a three-year-old Siberian Husky, was in severe and chronic pain and could barely walk after an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery in February failed to achieve the desired result...

While humans are still waiting for stem cell treatments to become available, animals like Nakota already have a paw up. Poway, Calif.-based Vet-Stem, which touts itself as a world leader in veterinary regenerative medicine, has been using its licensed stem cell therapy in horses for three years and is now extending its commercial service to include dogs, who are treated with their own stem cells to repair tendons and ligaments...

“The animals return to their prior level of performance about 75 percent of the time,” says Harman. “There’s no question that this is working.” Harman says the only adverse side effects have been swelling at the injection site in a small number of cases...

With Vet-Stem’s procedure, veterinarians collect a small sample (about two tablespoons) of the dog’s own fat with a small incision, typically from behind the shoulder blade or from the belly. The fat is then overnighted to Vet-Stem, where the regenerative cells are isolated, and those cells are then overnighted back to the veterinarian in ready-to-inject syringes. The stem cells are then injected straight into the animal’s joint or other area of concern.[/b]

Click to expand...