Tendon and ligament repair

Tendon and suspensory ligament injuries may occur as result of an acute overloading of the tendon or ligament, or more commonly, secondary to degenerative changes provoked by ageing and athletic performance . Injuries to tendons and ligaments are  significant causes of lameness in horses. After a tendon injury occurs, mature cells invade the area and produce scar tissue. This is a slow process and the repaired tissue is inferior in mechanical properties as compared to the original tissue, predisposing to poor running efficiency, recurrence and repeated injury in up to 80% of affected horses. They account for nearly a third of all equine injuries that occur during racing, with a reported prevalence up to 50% of the horses.

Many different therapeutic methods have been used to promote ligament healing such as ligament splitting, hyaluronic acid injections, iodine injections, blistering, pin firing, acupuncture, cold laser, etc.

Unfortunately, the statistics for a horse with a leg tendon injury are not encouraging: only half of the horses that are treated for an injury to a leg tendon using conventional methods will return to their previous level of activity, and of these treated horses, between 40 and 50% of them will reinjure themselves.

Mesenchymal stem cells offer a better healing rate since they help regenerate tendon tissue instead of the formation of scar tissue.