Lipogems is a new regenerative therapy for treating horses that involves harvesting fat cells from the animal, processing the cells, and injecting them back into injured areas to promote healing. It differs from other treatments by maintaining the natural healing properties of fat tissue and triggering the body's own damage response. The therapy was used to treat a 13-year-old pony named Ellie that suffered from recurring lameness in its stifle joint. Ellie did not respond to initial corticosteroid injections, but after undergoing the Lipogems procedure, her lameness resolved following five weeks of rest and rehabilitation. At a nine week follow up, Ellie was found to be completely sound.

1. 26 June 2019 EquestrianLife www.equestrianlifemagazine.co.uk 27
healthandveterinary
L
ipogems® is a new
innovative application
of regenerative
technology, it is
unlike any other regenerative
therapy available for treating
your horse or pony.​Unlike many
other veterinary treatments
Lipogems® has come from
the human medical world to
the veterinary world.
HOW IS LIPOGEMS®
DIFFERENT?​​​
The Lipogems® system is a
sterile single-use medical device
intended for the closed-loop
processing and transferring of
autologous adipose tissue in a
single surgical step. Lipogems®
is a non-expanded and micro-
fragmented adipose tissue graft
that is injected into damaged
areas of the body in order to
provide a cushion and structural
support while promoting
a healing environment.
The Lipogems® process
preserves the natural healing
properties of adipose tissue by
maintaining the fat’s Vascular
Stromal Niches. The micro-
fragmentation of the tissue is
key to the treatment process
as it triggers the body's own
damage response mechanism.
Lipogems® has been directly
translated from human
application to veterinary
application, with
• No lab culturing
• No cell isolations
• Lipogems® is a complete
tissue structure graft
There are no other comparative
treatments that trigger the
body's own damage response
mechanism in a single step
non-enzymatic, no-centrifuge
procedure that is completed
on-site, under an hour either
in surgery for small animals
or under standing sedation for
equines.
For more information, visit http://
www.lipogemsequine.com
CASE STUDY
ELLIE, 13-YEAR-
OLD EXMOOR PONY
Ellie is a 13-year-old Exmoor
pony who lives in the United
Kingdom. Ellie had a history
of re-occurring lameness in
the stifle. The stifle is the
largest, most complex joint
in the horse and anatomically
this joint is the equivalent to
the knee joint in humans. It
has similar bones, ligaments
and soft tissues, including a
patella, menisci and cruciate
ligaments. The location and
anatomical structure of this
joint makes it the weakest
joint of the horse. Injury to the
stifle joint is common and the
cause difficult to diagnose due
to the complexity of the bone
and soft tissue structures.
TIME TO CALL THE VET
Ellie’s owner called their
veterinarian, Dr. Tim Watson
from Waterlane Equine
Veterinary Services to come
out to their farm to try to help
find out what was causing
Ellie’s lameness. He performed
a lameness exam on the pony,
who presented with a left
hind limb lameness (4/10).
Using diagnostic analgesia,
the lameness was localised
to the stifle. Dr. Watson
took radiographs of Ellie’s
left stifle, which revealed
no abnormalities. Next, he
performed an ultrasound,
which revealed the presence
of a soft tissue injury to the
cruciate ligament.
TREATMENT #1:
CORTICOSTEROID
INJECTIONS
Dr. Watson initially treated
Ellie with intra-articular
corticosteroid injections
and box rest. However, the
treatment was unsuccessful--
-Ellie was still lame. Being the
Lead Lipogems® Veterinarian,
Dr. Watson was aware of an
alternative form of treatment
that he had previous success
within his patients, by using
Lipogems®. He recommended
Lipogems® treatment for Ellie,
and her owner agreed for him
to use it on Ellie.
TREATMENT #2:
LIPOGEMS®
On 12 July 2016, Dr. Watson
performed the Lipogems
Equine® procedure on Ellie.
First, he sedated the pony,
then selected and prepared
with sterile drapes and surgical
scrub solutions a site near her
tail head for harvesting some
adipose tissue (fat cells) using
a liposuction technique before
processing the collected fat
in the Lipogems® device and
then injecting the lipoaspirate
into the stifle.
Following the treatment, Ellie
was on box rest for five weeks
(which is the typical length of
Lipogems®
A new generation of
regeneration for your horse​​​​
box rest needed for all Lipogems
Equine® procedures). Upon
completion of Ellie’s rest period,
Dr. Watson came back out to the
farm to perform a recheck on
Ellie. He performed a lameness
exam and found that there was
no lameness detected when
Ellie was trotted in straight line
and on the lunge on the right
rein, however, there was a slight
residual lameness on the left
rein.
Dr. Watson recommended
that Ellie begin rehabilitation,
consisting of controlled walk
out sessions for the next four
weeks, at which time he’d come
back out to recheck her progress.
At Ellie’s 9 week progress exam,
Dr. Watson performed another
lameness exam, and found that
Ellie was completely sound with
no evidence of lameness, and
could resume her normal work.
ELLIE’S CURRENT STATUS
Less than a year later Ellie won
Overall Supreme Champion at
her first show ring outing and
has since remained sound.
...Ellie was
completely
sound with no
evidence of
lameness, and
could resume
her normal
work.