Stem Cell Therapy in the Treatment of Elbow Joint Osteoarthritis in Dogs

Osteoarthritis is a common disease in dogs that cause chronic pain, stiffness and can greatly reduce the quality of life. Standard treatment mostly is still symptomatic and is based on pain relief, without any disease-modifying effect and the side effects of painkillers can occur relatively common. The aim of this study was to determine do single intra-articular allogeneic stem cell injection gives improvement on patient well-being and have disease remodeling effects. Ten dogs with unilateral elbow osteoarthritis were selected. In osteoarthritic joint single stem cell intra-articular injection was made. Treatment was assessed by using stance analyzer to detect weight distribution, goniometry to measure range of motion, radiological examination to assess osteophyte size and size of subtrochlear sclerosis, joint fluid and blood sample analysis was made before and six months after treatment and once a month animal owner questionnaires were made. There was beneficial changes in weight distribution, range of motion, in size of osteophyte and subtrochlear sclerosis but not statistically significant. But in patient well-being observations from animal owner questionnaires there was significant improvements.