Education

Your Horse and ACell Vet™

The Basics

ACell Vet™, Inc. Through new advances in the field of regenerative medicine, ACell Vet™ offers your veterinarian better treatment outcomes and improved quality of life for patients. The ACell Vet™ product is a naturally occurring biologic product that fundamentally alters the way animals respond to wound healing by providing a favorable environment for cell growth at the site of damaged, weakened or missing tissues. Now, even in the most difficult of cases, repairing damaged or lost tissues can often be accomplished easily and with predictable results.

The ACell Vet™ product fundamentally changes healing by triggering abundant new blood vessel formation and recruiting numerous cell types to the wound site. It appears that these cells, including stem cells, have the potential to differentiate, organize and develop into numerous types of site specific tissues. During the healing process, the ACell Vet™ scaffold is gradually degraded and completely resorbed leaving only new tissue where scar tissue would normally be expected as a typical healing response.

Tendon & Ligament Treatment

Introduction

ACell Vet™ has introduced a new breakthrough treatment using regenerative medicine for equine tendon and ligament injuries. Recently featured in scientific presentations at the British Equine Veterinarians Association 2004 Congress and the American College of Veterinary Surgeons 2004 Symposium as well as being featured in both The Horse and Thoroughbred Times, the ACell Vet™ Powder has received international recognition by many leading equine veterinarians.

In the initial multi-center study which examined the treatment of ligament and tendon injuries, it was shown that 100% of the horses treated with the ACell Vet™ Powder resumed conditioning workouts within 3 months of treatment while control horses receiving conventional therapy alone were still convalescing. More importantly, ultrasound analysis revealed that the injuries had healed with the site appropriate new tissue containing appropriate longitudinal fibers along the lines of the stress.

The longer term follow-up results are equally impressive. In reviewing the animals that had received treatment a minimum of six months prior to the data collection 77 out of 91 cases, 84.6%, had returned to full work/function. More impressively approximately 50% were one year or greater post treatment, and the percentages were essentially equivalent to those in the total sampling.

The Treatment

After the preliminary diagnosis of a tendon or ligament injury, your veterinarian will perform an ultrasound examination on your horse to confirm the diagnosis as well as accurately determine the location and severity of the injury. This secondary examination is usually performed approximately one week after the injury, as the initial swelling and bruising can affect the accuracy of the ultrasound diagnosis.

Upon confirming the diagnosis, your veterinarian will sedate your horse and inject a mixture of the ACell Vet™ Powder directly into the affected tendon or ligament. The ACell Vet™ Powder acts as a framework for the horse’s own circulating stem cells to populate and differentiate into site appropriate, functional tissue, instead of the less elastic scar tissue seen with conventional therapies.

Rehabilitation

Exercise is a very important part of the rehabilitation process as the ACell Vet™ product requires physiological stress on the tissue to achieve optimal results. Controlled physical activity is highly recommended. It should also be noted that the rate at which a patient recovers from an injury can be dependent upon many variables, including location and severity of the injury, general health of the horse, and even the age of the horse.

If your horse is not boarded at your veterinarian’s location, it is imperative that all persons involved with the care, rehabilitation and training of your horse fully understand and follow the rehabilitation program prescribed by your veterinarian. It is recommended that each patient be closely evaluated weekly and appropriate progress noted before continuing to increase activity at any stage.