10/31/2010 3:23:00 AM Stem cell replacement therapy used on Altus dog

ZEKE CAMPFIELD ALTUS  The latest in stem cell technology made its Oklahoma debut Friday, and the doctor who pioneered the cutting-edge procedure here said he believes it is just the beginning of what could be the future of veterinary medicine. Dr. Kenneth O'Hanlon at All-Pets Medical Clinic in Altus said he has always been open to the newest medical science when treating his furry patients over the past 35 years, and on Friday he did it again  isolating and activating important stem cells from the fatty tissue of an 8-year-old Labrador retriever and then injecting them back into her hip joints, where she has been suffering arthritis for years. Haley, the much-loved family pet of Katy and Wayne Sheppard of Altus, was a good candidate for regenerative stem cell therapy because she is relatively young and otherwise healthy, O'Hanlon said. She has been taking arthritic pain medication and received a series of laser treatments over the last six months, but the pain just hasn't gone away, he said. "These both helped her but they weren't doing what we wanted for a dog as young as she is," he said. "To me, this was an ideal case because she's still a young dog and her arthritis isn't so bad. She should respond well." The equipment and patented process for the new procedure was made available by MediVet-America, about six months ago, and on Friday a representative from that company was on-site to assist with the procedure. Katherine Wilkie, director of laboratory services for MediVet, said the stem cell regenerative procedure is not necessarily new to animal medicine, but this is the first time it's been available as an in-house, same-day procedure. Wilkie said it's actually a relatively simple procedure. The fatty tissue is broken up and put in an incubator for several hours. A centrifuge brings the stem cells, which are unadulterated and can be triggered to develop into any number of cell types, to the top, and then those cells are activated to become, in this case, cartilage cells, by a "photobio stimulation unit." "All we're doing is taking the stem cells out of the fat and turning them on, or activating them," Wilkie said. "What we hope happens is they'll turn into enough of the kind of cells we need." Wilkie said the regenerative therapy was developed for dogs, cats, horses and other animals suffering from osteoarthritis, hip dysplasia, ligament and cartilage injuries and other degenerative diseases.