Intratendinous Genipin Injection in Horses With Tendon Injuries

University of Zurich (UZH)

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 3

Conditions: Superficial Digital Flexor Tendonitis

Treatments: Drug: Genipin

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05755750

Genipin

Details and patient eligibility

About

Our study is the first to use genipin, a naturally occurring collagen cross-linking agent, as a therapeutic agent to treat superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) injuries in horses. The promising approach of intratendinous genipin injection and tendon mechanical enhancement could be a viable alternative to current therapies for SDFT injuries.

Full description

Tendon injuries are a career limiting or ending condition in horses. Genipin (GP), an exogenous collagen crosslinker, provides ex-vivo tendon mechanical augmentation and excellent biosafety. The main objective of this study is to investigate treatment success of GP-induced collagen crosslinking in a clinical application in horses with superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) injuries. Horses with an AAEP (American Association of American Practitioners) lameness score > 0 and sonographically confirmed tendinopathy are treated with intratendinous GP injection (IGI) and controlled exercise. Minimal follow-up was set at 12 months. Outcome factors are lameness (AAEP lameness score), soundness, assessment of return to previous use, and re-injury. Additionally, adverse effects are recorded.

Enrollment: 74 patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• clinical and sonographic evidence of a tendon injury

Exclusion criteria

• in the final analysis, only superficial digital flexor tendon injuries were included
• if follow-up was less than 12 m due to euthanasia, death or other reasons, horses were excluded from the study

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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74 participants in 1 patient group

Intratendinous genipin injection

Experimental group

Description:

Genipin was administrated intratendinously under sonographic guidance. For lesions up to 3 cm in length, two separate 0.2 ml injections of genipin solution were administered into the region of transition from degenerated to normal tendon tissue. One injection was given at the proximal end of the lesion and the other at the distal end. For lesions longer than 3 cm, an additional 0.2 ml injection was used for every additional 3 cm of lesion length. In the illustrated example, the 6 cm lesion required a total of three injections, and therefore one additional injection was given in the middle of the lesion between the distal and proximal injections. Genipin treatment solution contained 100 mM genipin and 20% of the solvent dimethyl sulfoxidee in phosphate buffered saline. Instead of one administration of a relatively large volume, several individual administrations of 0.2 ml were performed depending on lesion size .

Treatment:

Drug: Genipin