April 09 midwest horse digest Page 41
Stem Cells Being
Used to Repair
Equine Tendon
Injuries
MADISON – Horse owners who want their
horse to heal more completely from a tendon
injury may want to opt for a relatively new
technique—stem cell injections.
Surgeons at the University of Wisconsin
School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison note
that injecting stem cells into a tendon injury
may improve the healing process, with less
chance for reinjury.
“The technique has a high success rate,”
says Dr. Sabrina Brounts, a large animal
surgeon at the school. “Depending on the
case, it may shorten the recovery time
significantly.”
Stem cells can be harvested from the
injured horse’s own bone marrow or fat.The
advantage to collecting bone marrow from the
hip or sternum is that the resultant sample is
guaranteed to contain pure stem cells once it
has been proliferated in the laboratory.
Fat collected from the horse’s tailhead
(which requires a standing surgery) also yields
stem cells, but in this case the laboratory
provides them as a percentage of nucleated
cells extracted from the fat. As a result, the
exact amount of stem cells is less accurate.
Once stem cells have been extracted in
the laboratory (approximately 3-4 weeks),
they are sent back to the hospital where sur-
geons inject the stem cells into the tendon. By
nature, stem cells are able to replicate and
differentiate into other types of cells. And
because these cells grow faster than the
horse’s own tendon tissues, they can help
speed the healing process.
Another advantage to using stem cells is
that the injury heals with less scar tissue.
Scar tissue is not as strong as tendon tissue,
so scarring can lead to recurrence of the
injury. Stimulating repair through the use of
stem cells, on the other hand, can lead to a
stronger repair.
“The risk is minimal if you’re using an
experienced surgeon,” Dr. Brounts says.
Following stem cell injection, the patient
is monitored with ultrasound over time to
observe the rate of healing. Special rehabili-
tation exercises help the process.
“It’s important not to inject the tendon
during the initial swelling stage, right after the
injury,” Dr. Brounts notes. “The swelling
response protects the injury. But after 14
days, most of that protective swelling is over
and stem cell injections can begin.”
Cost of the treatment is about $1,500.
According to Dr. Brounts, the best time to
treat a tendon injury with this new technique is
14 to 30 days after the injury occurs. It works
best in core lesions, which can be seen via
ultrasound as a big hole in the tendon. The
stem cells are then injected directly into this
hole to stimulate healing.
To determine if your horse is a candidate
for this treatment, call the school’s Large
Animal Hospital at 608/263-7600.
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