Stem Cell Therapy

Stem Cell therapy is at the leading  edge of treatment for osteoarthritis, tendon and ligament damage.
Valley Farm Animal Hospital is currently the only veterinary practice in South Africa to perform this ground breaking, body-friendly treatment. Pets with multiple joint arthritis or those with inoperable  joint conditions make good candidates for Stem Cell Therapy, as do those who cannot tolerate the painkillers normally used for these conditions.

This therapy has been shown to be effective in up to ninety-five percent of patients treated (data from veterinarians using this process in the USA), and with fifty to seventy five percent  not needing pain medication anymore. The benefits appear to last between eighteen to thirty months, and the treatment can be repeated.

Stem cells are the body’s initial cells from which all the rest of the cells in the body originate. As pets (and people) age, the amount, concentration and activity of stem cells and thus the ability to heal decreases.  Adults have stem cells, but they tend to be rather inactive, so we need to find an abundant source of these cells and then re-activate them. Luckily, fat (Adipose tissue) has an abundance of these  adult stem cells, 50 – 1000 times more than bone marrow, and it is much easier and less painful to harvest.  Stem cells from Adipose can develop in to the types of cells found in cartilage, bone, liver and pancreas -to name just a few, and so is perfect for our use.

This is a day procedure and due to the fact that only the pet’s own tissues  are used, there are no marked adverse reactions.  It is important that the pet is fully examined before we perform the procedure as not every patient will benefit, or indeed even require this therapy. Older pets may need blood tests and X-rays to be sure they will be OK, and not be put at unnecessary risk. The pet will require a short anaesthetic so that we can harvest the adipose tissue surgically – which is very similar to a spay in terms of the surgery. Any area with sufficient fat can be harvested, but we generally take our samples from the normally abundant fat of the abdomen (belly).

When we have the sample it takes approximately three hours in our lab to process,extract  and activate the stem cells. The sample when processed is about 2mls, and contains an average of 200million stem cells.
The stem cells can then be injected back in to the pet. We use a method of splitting the sample ,and inject  these  into  affected joints , with the balance being injected intravenously(in the vein). Scientific studies have been performed to show that Stem Cells are attracted to areas of inflammation within the body, and even if only injected in to a leg vein,  large number of Stem Cells will find their way to a joint with osteoarthritis.  This means that they even treat the not so obvious problem areas.
Improvement will be seen as early as seven days after the procedure and will be ongoing for up to five weeks. 

Please click here to find out more about Medivet Adipose Stem Cell Therapy