Join us for an evening of CPD on Tuesday 5th February.

'Osteoarthritis management options and the potential role of stem cell therapy’

Osteoarthritis is common and can be difficult to manage in small animal practice. There are a range of treatment options, which are variably effective, or cause side effects preventing their usage. This lecture will discuss current treatment options and the potential for stem cell therapy as an alternative for managing osteoarthritis. 

Stem cells form an important area of Regenerative Medicine and their use for the treatment of conditions such as tendon injuries have shown improvements compared to alternative treatment options. However, the field is relatively new and many questions for clinical use remain such as - What patient selection criteria to use? Which pathologies are better suited for stem cell therapy? How are stem cells prepared for the clinic and who can supply them?  

Why attend this evening
If you have managed dogs with osteoarthritis and considered stem cell therapy but not been sure how it fits in with other treatments and what the options are, this would be a great opportunity to learn about this field from leading stem cell experts in the veterinary field at the clinic and research levels.  

Key areas:

• Management of osteoarthritis 
• Including exercise programmes, weight loss, anti-inflammatories, joint supplements, disease modifying agents, analgesics
• The evidence base for these treatments
• How we can track progress 
• New treatment options: Cell-based therapies for the small animal clinics: where are we now?
• Background to stem cell use in the canine clinic
• What is the evidence?
• What makes a good patient for stem cell therapy?
• Implantation of stem cells in orthopaedics.

 The RVC’s Stem Cell Laboratory:

• VMD licensed site for clinical grade stem cells
• What are stem cells and definitions?
• Background to stem cell therapy in the Equine clinic – where the pioneering work started
• The process for preparing stem bone marrow and adipose stem cells
• Quality control
• How to submit samples to the Laboratory

Lectures will commence at 7pm with registration and light refreshments from 6.30pm.

Tickets are a £10 donation each to the RVC's charity, the Animal Care Trust.  Please book your tickets online on the CPD website or call the CPD Unit on 01707 666865.