Improvements made with stem cell therapy

Abstract

Medicine has greatly improved over the last several decades due to research and advances in technology. The quality of life for humans and animals has greatly increased due to the ability of doctors to treat more diseases and injuries than previously possible. One area of medicine that has made improvements is regenerative medicine, which includes the use of stem cells. Bone marrow stem cells and adipose tissue stem cells are being used in horses, specifically athletic horses with the superficial digital flexor tendon injury. This injury is very prevalent in athletic horses, comprising of 30% of all injuries. Its long rehabilitation period and high re-injury rates with conventional therapies has made it a costly injury that could be aided by stem cell therapy. The stem cell therapy is meant to heal the lesion in the tendon with tissue that is comparable to healthy tissue, and not like the scar tissue that is typically formed. The quality of the tissue that is reformed allows a greater percentage of horses to return to their athletic careers with a significant decrease in the re-injury rates compared to conventional therapies. In this paper, several case studies are compared and the benefits of stem cell therapy are discussed.