Stem-cell therapy has been shown to have benefits in a variety of ailments from spinal cord injuries to heart failure. And just this week, Italian researchers released findings from a study on patients left blinded after exposure to chemicals whose sight was restored using corneas grown from their own stem cells.
Such curative value has not gone unnoticed by the veterinary world — and one of the pioneers in the use of adult equine stem cells to treat injured horses is Dr. Doug Herthel, owner and founder in 1972 of Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in Los Olivos.
From humble beginnings performing abdominal surgeries in the front yard of his first home-office, not far from what is now the tasting-room capital of the Valley, Dr. Herthel has grown his practice to encompass internal medicine, lameness evaluation, diagnostics, physical rehabilitation, hyperbaric treatment and state-of-the-art stem-cell therapy on a sprawling 40-acre ranch south of town.
Read the full article: Healing equines with stem cells – Santa Barbara News-Press (PDF)