Stem Cell Therapy

RE: Stem Cell Therapy

James Dunne — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 22:20:45 GMT

[quote userid="11901" url="~/001/veterinary-clinical/small-animal/orthopaedics/f/discussions/30209/stem-cell-therapy/236092#236092"]What conditions is it commonly used for in VM?
Is there any data about efficacy?
How is the product prepared?
what would one expect to pay for a single treatment? [/quote]

Conditions treated are usually osteoarthritis (intra-articular injection) or musculotendinous (e.g. intralesional injection in Achilles tendon core lesion). There are other diseases where MSCs are being investigated as potential treatment options also.

There are some data about efficacy and a review article in Frontiers in Veterinary Science last year (May 2021, Carlien Brondeel et al) may be helpful in this regard and at least provide you with references that could be reviewed.

'The product' is variable as there are many MSC products all prepared in different ways. Some mesenchymal stem cells are prepared from adipose tissue and cultured in serum, some are prepared from bone marrow, some are autologous from the same patient, some are allogeneic, some are not prepared in serum media etc. This is an issue. Allogeneic products are available as an 'off-the-shelf' injection in humans and in Equines (Articell) and likely to become available for canine OA in the near future. For now, it's usually take a tissue biopsy, send for stem cell culture and inject on receipt.

What would one expect to pay? Hard to know - likely over £1000 rather than hundreds of pounds. It's expensive technology. An estimate of costs should be obtained prior to referral.

I hope that is of further help

Kind regards

James

RE: Stem Cell Therapy

Miriam Lodewyks — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 16:07:36 GMT

Quite.
I had no intention of referring the client for a treatment I know very little about, without so much as an offending joint or ligament to point the finger at.
But I WOULD like to know more about SCT so that I can at least have a balanced view and intelligent discussion with said client… hence this post.
So what I actually want to know is:

What conditions is it commonly used for in VM?
Is there any data about efficacy?
How is the product prepared?
what would one expect to pay for a single treatment?

thanks!

RE: Stem Cell Therapy

Tafara Mapuvire — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 16:01:22 GMT

It's always tricky when a client declines diagnostics but comes up with his/her own plan of action and then expects the practitioner to endorse it. In this case, the practitioner does not have the necessary diagnostic information at their disposal to make any recommendations, more so in terms of a referral for treatment that is not offered by said practitioner. I think these are sentiments that should be expressed to the client. From experience I would gladly refer such clients making it clear that the only basis for referral is that they have requested for one and that, as a practitioner, I do not have enough diagnostic information to make and commit to a sound recommendation.

Cheers and all the best,

Tafara

RE: Stem Cell Therapy

James Dunne — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 14:52:15 GMT

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I think without a diagnosis it is very hard to recommend a plan of action. And a client who's decided that they have an answer to a problem without knowing what the problem is should be let slip free from the moorings. I think you should certainly express your concerns and ask for previous history and any diagnostic tests carried out so that you can establish whether STC would be worthwhile or not. It could end up being a benefit to the dog, of course, but it could also be a tremendous waste of money.

RE: Stem Cell Therapy

Miriam Lodewyks — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 22:21:24 GMT

This is a young labrador with long-standing forelimb lameness, recently registered as new client. Further investigation declined in first instance but now client had “done his research” and decided SCT is the answer!
Thought I should educate myself a little more before I open the discussion into what exactly the question is…

RE: Stem Cell Therapy

James Dunne — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 13:51:27 GMT

Could you elaborate what the STC is for? Is it arthritis? Or musculotendinous disorder? In some situations, it is very useful and in others the evidence base is lacking. There is also marked potential for misuse of STC. It's hard to answer the question though without knowing a bit more.