What is Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy? How does it work in Pets?
Is your dog suffering from a debilitating or degenerative joint disease? Platelet-rich plasma therapy can help. Safarivet can treat several painful conditions in dogs with PRP. And if your dog sustains athletic injuries like ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears or arthritis, they can recover more quickly with PRP treatment.
This is because platelet-rich plasma (PRP) accelerates the natural healing process by helping to restore the growth of any degenerating cartilage and joints.
What is Platelet Rich Plasma?
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a natural treatment modality for stimulating the healing of many tissues. Platelets are those small blood cells that form in the bone marrow and are vital for tissue repair. They release more than 800 different protein factors or chemicals that create very fertile ground for healing.
Every cell in the body – i.e. cartilage cells, liver cells, bone cells, nerve cells, eye cells, and even tendon cells – heal the same way. Take note that every cell requires the same stimulants and nutrients for repair and growth. But without platelets, tissues and cells will not be able to repair or heal.
The protein factors that platelets release are activated within 10 minutes and can continue for more than 7 days. They initiate the repair of cells while stem cells facilitate the entire healing process.
How Does PRP Treatment Work in Pets?
Let’s assume that your dog has arthritis. Here’s how PRP treatment works in pets: first of all, the platelets are obtained from your dog’s own blood. Some blood samples are taken, and one sample undergoes a very rapid spinning process that concentrates the platelets as well as the beneficial protein growth factors found in the plasma portion of Fido’s blood.
When the platelet-rich plasma is injected into the arthritic joint, PRP rapidly stimulates the healing of every inflamed tissue. The platelet-rich plasma injection alleviates pain and restores the overall function of the arthritic joint.
In other words, your dog uses its body’s own ability to heal and regenerate itself. The growth factors send signals rapidly to stem cells, ordering them to migrate to the trauma site to begin swift repairs.
Your dog will go home that same day and return for reassessment 2-4 weeks after treatment.
Conditions That PRP Can Treat
PRP treatment has been proven to accelerate many kinds of internal healing. It helps in treating several conditions, including
- Ligament and tendon injuries
- Lameness
- Soft tissue injuries
- Degenerative joint diseases
Platelet-rich plasma treatment has even been proven to arrest the damage from osteoarthritis via the prevention of joint cartilage deterioration. PRP treatment can be combined appropriately with stem cell therapy – or other regenerative medicine types – in order to promote further healing processes.
And it can also be carried out as a single treatment at Safari Veterinary Care Center if stem cell therapy is not required.
All these show that platelet-rich therapy is one of the viable options for rapid, internal healing.
Conclusion
Platelet-rich plasma therapy works in pets, just like it does in humans. At Safarivet, we offer stem cell therapy, platelet-rich plasma treatment, etc., for a wide variety of pet ailments.
Get in touch with us today!