Friday, January 14, 2011

Michigan animal clinic using pets' own stem cell to treat animal arthritis

The Woodside Animal Clinic in Royal Oak is performing in-house adult stem cell treatments on pets with arthritis.
Dr. John Simon said Woodside is the first clinic in Michigan to perform the in-house adult stem cell therapy, which involves harvesting and injecting an animal's stem cells the same day. There are veterinarians in the state who provide a similar service but send the cells to an outside lab for harvesting.

"I've been practicing for 40 years, and I've never seen any breakthrough of this size before," Simon said of in-house cell harvesting. "What it will be allowing veterinarians to do is rehabilitate damage to the joints, joints that have been degenerative because of age and because of trauma. It allows older animals to actually live longer because they'll be able to get up and move around."

Reuben's therapy began with light anesthesia, followed by a small incision in his back, where Simon took a tablespoon of fat.

Simon then put the fat through a laser, which allowed him to harvest the stem cells he injected into Reuben's joints. The dog also received the cells intravenously to help heal other areas that are inflamed. There's no risk of rejection because the cells come from the dog, Simon said. The therapy costs about $2,000.

Reuben's hips are expected to improve in two or three weeks, and the joints will take about two months to heal, Simon said.


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