Medial compartment of the stifle prp injections in a horse. 3 billion platelets on their way to initially reduce inflammation and then encourage regeneration of damaged areas.
The stifle is prepared by repeated cleaning the way any surgical site would be. Sterile gloves are worn and a sterile needle is placed into the joint. We know it is sited in the right place when we see joint fluid at the hub or in this case flowing out of the needle. The prp that has been prepared in a closed system again using meticulous sterile technique is then injected into the joint. Pre clinical work indicates that peak response yo each injection is seen at around 6 weeks post injection. In severely inflamed cases a course of prp injections can be recommended.
Vas UK were collecting platelets to treat an equine shoulder joint this week in a case that was a few weeks post surgical treatment after a traumatic injury. The video shows in a bit more detail the phase for platelet collection in the horse 🙂
January 2023 - equine plateletpheresis video - platelet harvest phase of the apheresis cycle.
A video example of injection of prp into the carpal (knee) joint. The site is aseptically prepared, and we know we’re in the right place when joint fluid is seen at or from the hub of the needle. VAS uk often work alongside our clients to prepare these injections for use at the time of prp collection, alongside leaving the bank of injections for future use (14 doses). Current regimes often involve a course of treatment and are planned according to the injury diagnosed. Consideration is also made to the activity level/ performance requirements and planned sporting season of the individual patient 😊
An insight to the platelet harvest phase of apheresis. Performed on an unsedated patient (gentle bribery for catheterisation and reduction of boredom with a likit 😊) . Please excuse the relaxed commentrary - I was explaining the process to a colleague but hopefully it illustrates what is happening. We are running the collection at 100ml/minute which requires perfect flow. We’re looking to harvest 5-10 x the circulating platelet concentration with negligible red and white cells for regenerative injections. This provides as much platelet healing content as we can. This is where the apheresis process comes into its own. Unbelievably clever technology 😊
We’ve been busy over the last few weeks and are enjoying receiving encouraging feedback about patients undergoing platelet treatment. We thought we’d share this video which shows the surge phase of an apheresis prp collection. You can actually see the platelets being pushed into the plasma looking like a tornado. We measure the platelet concentration in every collected unit of platelet rich plasma (prp) along with checking we’ve removed what we don’t want. In this case the platelet count equated to 919 billion platelets per litre, which equates to 919 million per millilitre. We inject a few millilitres into each lesion and in this case this prp was collected for treatment of a horse joint. That’s a lot of healing help ❤️
Platelet “swirl”
This is a bit of a geeky video 😊 - but as blood bankers particularly know, Platelet rich plasma (prp) is a very special liquid that we take pride in producing well. Platelets are tricky particles to define, keep happy and utilise - however we are realising more and more how important they may be in our broad immune system function. The scientific community are learning more day by day.
However - how we initially know we’ve captured them into our prp is actually quite simple. The first test we do is simply a “swirl” test . Platelets look like a murmuration within the golden plasma. I hope you can see the platelets “swirling” here when being gently agitated in one of VASUK’s quality control aliquots.
Aseptic platelet product dose preparation
This video shows in a little more detail how VAS platelet aliquots are labelled, stored and prepared for use as a bank of injections for each individual patient. It also illustrates use with and without an aggregate filter (individual vet preference) 🙂
For people interested in how it all happens, here's a short video showing the start of the first apheresis cycle in the horse :-)
Regenerative medicine prp/lysate dose separation
For regenerative medicine purposes, platelet rich plasma (prp) is collected by VASUK using apheresis, then the prp is separated into individual sterile heat sealed doses for use or frozen storage as lysate. The video shows the aliquot preparation from a parent bag that was obtained during a 50 minute collection cycle from a horse. The separation is performed using a specially designed equine lysate kit and a space limiting 15 bag holder on a retort stand that ensures the correct size doses are generated. Depending on a customers requirements these can be tailored to hold 5-30ml. If a customer requested 5ml doses - we would be able to generate at least 30 doses from one collection event.
Elution of plasma during apheresis
For those interested in seeing apheresis in action - here it is in its simplest visual form. During an initial first draw cycle the elution of plasma after the centrifugation of the anticoagulinated whole blood in the Latham bowl. Clever stuff thanks to VAS UK’s haemonetics machine - first designed and brought to market by Jack Latham in the USA in 1971 🙂🙂
