Terry Durkes – pioneer of gold particle implantation on animals

Dr. Terry Durkes kindly sent us an updated version of his 1992 publication, which he compiled in 2007 accompanying a lecture he gave and which has not been published yet. He and his team started their research on gold bead implantation for hip dysplasia [mostly inborn abnormal formation of the hip socket] and epilepsy in 1975. In the beginning most of the patients were German Shepherd dogs with hip dysplasia, later also other dogs and cats.

Over the years Durkes found out that apart from hip dysplasia other conditions also respond well to gold implantation: osteochondritis [disturbance of the conversion of cartilage to bone in the normal development process], osteochondritis dissecans [damage of the bone underneath the cartilage] of the shoulder, arthritis of the elbow and knee, spondylosis of the back [degeneration of the spine], wobbler disease [due to malformation of the cervical vertebrae] and epileptic seizures. Depending on the medical condition, small gold beads e.g. from a 24-carate gold wire are placed at acupuncture points or further “trigger points” in their vicinity. The gold is implanted between the muscle bellies, or in case of head, elbow or stifle joint also under the skin, under local anaesthesia (on the first occasion mostly under general anaesthesia).

For hip dysplasia (about 40% of the cases) the success rate is consistent, for dogs under 7 years of age it lies at more than 98%, for dogs from 7 to 12 years around 75% and for dogs over 12 years about 50%. Many dogs with arthritis of the elbow can be helped, too. Osteochondritis of the shoulder and arthritis of the stifle also respond well to the gold bead implantation. Carpal joints [joints in the wrist] and tarsal joints [joints of the tarsal bones in the foot] are rarely treated – however, dogs with wobbler disease are often treated. Also dogs with epileptic seizures respond well to gold implantation. Often medication can be stopped or at least reduced.

Proceed to updated version of 2007 (with kind permission of the author) ...