Regenerative Stem Cell Therapy
This is a video from a few years back. While all of the information is
still accurate, I no longer see patients at Island Animal Hospital. Please
instead schedule an appointment with Dr. Christiansen through AnimalSpecialty and Emergency Hospital in Rockledge.
What are Stem Cells?
Stem Cells are precursor cell that can develop into almost any cell type in the body. They have benefits in
- Improving healing
- Decreasing pain
- Decreasing inflammation
- Treating some diseases
How do we obtain the Stem Cells?
- One of the richest tissues in stem cells are body fat.
- A brief surgical procedure can harvest the fat
- The sample is sterilely prepared and sent to Vet-Stem laboratory in California
What does the collection mean for my pet?
- Brief general anesthesia
- A 4-6 cm incision behind the sternum
- The incision is made numb, and appropriate pain medication is provided
- No running, jumping, play for 2 weeks
Why treat with Stem Cells?
- Proven and most commonly used in
- Arthritis
- Decrease risk/need for surgery
- Decrease use of medications and their associated potentially side-effects
- Healing of bone, tendons, muscle and ligaments
- Benefits reported with
- immune-mediated disease
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Kidney disease
- Cartilage damage
- Congenital
- Trauma
- Cerebral Infarction (stroke)
- Peripheral thrombosis/infarction
- Liver
- spinal problems
- other neurologic disease
- Under research for use
- Stem Cells banked for the life of your pet
Why bank Stem Cells before you need them?
- Stem Cells are most robust and numerous in younger animals
- An easy addition to an elective procedure such as a spay or neuter, or any other elective procedure
- Don’t have to add costs of surgery and anesthesia, or undergo another procedure at an older age
What does it cost?
- Harvesting and banking of stem cells
- $550 add-on to another surgical procedure
- Initial cost includes first year of banking
- $50/year banking for life of pet
- Harvest and treat directly (inject 48 hours post-harvest)
- $2000-2400 as an add-on to another procedure (including second sedation and treatment)
- Dr. Christiansen can discuss all options for the short and long-term at a consult.
Are there any side effects?
- Since it is the patient’s own cells, there is no inflammatory reaction
- No systemic adverse events reported and < 0.5% local tissue reactions
What about practices that process/prepare Stem Cells in-hospital and are a lot less expensive?
- Vet-Stem samples
- Prepared in a sterile environment
- No pets or their waste products are in the facility
- Dedicated and specially trained technicians and staff performing harvesting, counting, and dosing
- Lifelong service and customer care
- In-hospital kits
- Poorer quality control
- May result in inferior samples
- Potentially greater risk of infection (which can be crippling or even fatal)
Please schedule an appointment with our board-certified surgeon, Dr. Jeff Christiansen at the clinic of your choice, to evaluate your pet and to discuss stem cells to improve your pet's or patient's length and quality of life.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to e-mail Dr. Christiansen directly.
For further information, please review the Vet-Stem website - http://www.vet-stem.com/