We now have ways of scanning injuries that we couldn’t see before.

Improvements In Treatment

Stem cell treatment in equines was pioneered at the RVC 20 years ago. The original process is to take cells from the horse’s bone marrow, send to the lab to create more, then inject into the injured tendon where they turn into new cells that effect a better repair. In 2022 Boehringer Ingelheim launched RenuTend™ an allogenic (i.e. sourced from another horse ) stem cell product which claims to improves the quality of tendon healing by promoting parallel alignment of the right type of fibres and decreases the amount of scar tissue formed. Together with their sister product for joint disease (Arti-Cell Forte™), these are the first cell products licensed in the UK.

“Other treatments currently being evaluated are a more powerful (type 4) laser, and drugs that manipulate the scarring process to minimise its adverse effects. In addition, there are new machines, such as the Tenex machine, devised for the treatment of human tendon injuries, which involves the insertion of a probe into the tendon which sucks out defective tissue from within the tendon but has not been sufficiently evaluated in equines.”

A promising development crossing over from the human world is the biopatch, made from the material used in sutures which acts as a scaffold, and which holds some promise for treating tendon tears within the tendon sheath behind the fetlock but has yet to be fully evaluated.

Professor Smith would also like to see further research into the ideal rehab programme to optimise outcomes.