Efficacy of a liquid amnion allograft on equine healing
Abstract
Amnion is an excellent source of growth factors and cytokines important in healing, and thus considered a regenerative therapy. We hypothesized that distal limb wounds on horses treated with an equine-derived liquid amnion allograft (LAA) would heal faster than saline-treated controls. A randomized, blinded, controlled study was performed. Full-thickness skin wounds were surgically created on both metacarpi of eight horses. The margin of each wound was injected with either LAA or saline (control) nine days later. The wounds on each horse were randomly assigned to both groups. Bandage changes were performed at regular intervals until wounds had healed. At each bandage change, wound size was measured. The mixed model found no significant difference in wound size over time between the treatment and control groups using P = 0.99 for the interaction term. Using a Kaplan-Meier survival curve with survival defined as a wound not reaching 95% healed, the log-rank test found no significant difference in survival between the groups using P = 0.2. It was concluded that LAA did not accelerate wound healing. We also hypothesized that treatment of equine tendon and ligament injuries with local injection of LAA would result in an ability to return to work comparable to published reports using alternative regenerative therapies. A prospective, multi-center, non-blinded clinical trial was conducted. Criterion for inclusion was a horse presenting with lameness attributed to tendonitis or desmitis using diagnostic anesthesia and imaging, and subsequently treated by local injection of the lesion with LAA. Standardized questionnaires describing each horse's signalment, discipline, and ability to return to work were completed by attending veterinarians after at least six months of follow-up. Questionnaires for 100 horses with 128 tendonitis or desmitis lesions met the inclusion criterion. Of these, 72 horses with 94 lesions returned to or exceeded their original level of work, 10 horses with 13 lesions returned to work but could not perform to previous standards, and 18 horses with 20 lesions did not return to work as a result of the injury. These results were comparable to published reports using platelet-rich plasma, autologous conditioned serum and mesenchymal stem cells.
Collections
- OSU Theses [15752]