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A frisky Xmas for stem cell treatment dog
Christmas came early for Abbey, the 11-year old Border Collie who received the Alpine region’s first ever stem cell transplant just four weeks ago.
While it is true that in almost 100% of cases our patients benefited from swift and substantial reductions of their arthritic pain our follow-up studies have shown that, in most cases, ASCT does not provide a permanent reduction or elimination of arthritic pain. In some cases relief can last a long time but in many cases the benefits are lost within a year or so. We do not consider that to be a sufficiently positive outcome to continue to offer the treatment. Consequently, we have not offered ASCT since the completion of our follow-up studies in 2014.
Of course, with such a new treatment we were never able to offer any guarantees and all of our clients who requested the treatment for their pets were advised that we were unable to predict the long term results. However, the initial results for most patients were so positive that we really hoped they indicated a genuine long term solution.
Unfortunately that is not the case and we can no longer suggest ASCT as a preferred treatment. There are other effective treatments for arthritis that are considerably cheaper than ASCT.
We remain optimistic that stem cells, whether produced from embryonic cells or from the patient’s own cells, will eventually lead to a better and more permanent cure but, currently, such treatments are not only vastly more complex but are so expensive as to be out of the reach of the average pet owner.
Rather than delete our original news stories on our ASCT trials we will leave them available for pet owners to read and form their own judgements.
Original story…
Christmas has come early for Abbey, the 11-year-old Border Collie who received the Alpine region’s first ever stem cell transplant just four weeks ago, and is now happily re-discovering what it’s like to be a puppy again. Abbey has made astounding progress toward beating the severe arthritis that saw her crippled with chronic pain.
Abbey’s mum says that her much loved dog is running, jumping and chasing sticks and balls, with no sign of lameness or discomfort despite having had no pain medication since her stem cell transplant.
“It’s amazing, Abbey is like a puppy again.
“In the cooler weather we had a couple of weeks ago Abbey would usually be reluctant to even move because of the pain, but she has been running and playing for hours every day.
“The other day she even jumped into the ute. Usually she’ll just sit there waiting for somebody to lift her in but this time she bounded straight into the tray with no trouble at all. She hasn’t been able to do that for years.
“And she’s back at her old game of teasing my horse. She recently got a kick and a fractured foot for her silly antics but even that hasn’t slowed her down,” said her owner.
Abbey suffered from severe osteoarthritis in her back legs and hips. Her condition was so bad that while carrying out the procedure Dr. Bek discovered that there was virtually no cartilage remaining in the affected joints. The Adipose Stem Cell Treatment Abbey received harvested adult stem cells from a small amount of her fatty tissue. After processing in the hospital’s laboratory, these stem cells were activated using specialised equipment and then injected into the affected joints, where they immediately began to grow healthy new cartilage.
Everyone here at the hospital is very excited at the speed of Abbey’s recovery. I did expect positive results, but I’m astounded at the rate of Abbey’s progress. She was showing improved mobility within days of the treatment and has continued to improve every day. At her four-weekly check-up the other day she was showing no sign of any arthritic symptoms at all.
It’s still early days of course but there is every chance that the stem cells we gave Abbey will continue to grow new cartilage and tendon to replace the damaged tissue and that her new found mobility and freedom from pain will prove permanent. That’s not only a terrific outcome for both Abbey and her owner, it’s also great news for every other dog and cat that suffers from degenerative arthritic conditions.
We are optimistic that this cutting edge biotechnology procedure will become the treatment of choice for a wide range of conditions in dogs, cats, horses and other animals.
We can already use this remarkable treatment on arthritic conditions, to repair ligament and tendon damage and for repairing bone fractures. In the future it may be possible for us to repair kidney and liver damage too, and even heart disease in pets.
Stem Cell Therapy is the future, and it’s here now. It’s affordable, safe, drug-free and, for the patient, it’s a very simple procedure that takes only a few hours.
This is easily the most exciting advance in animal health care I have ever seen in my years as a vet. The possibilities are just endless. Interest from our clients has been phenomenal and we already have bookings piling up. If every patient gets the same results as Abbey, it’s going to be fantastic to see all those pets happily running around again, pain free.
