title: A domestic porcine model for studying the effects of radiation on head and neck cancers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Radiation therapy (RT) of the head and neck region is often accompanied by serious side effects. Research in this area is needed to improve treatment outcomes and ameliorate therapy tolerance. Laboratory rodents are barely matching today's clinical standards in RT research. Yet domestic swine (Sus scrofa domestica) have previously proved suitable for various advanced tests in clinical research and training. We therefore investigated whether S. scrofa domestica is also appropriate for irradiation of the mandible.
  
  
  METHODS
  A common scheme for irradiation treatment of S. scrofa domestica mandibles in a split-mouth design was acquired by applying computed tomography (CT) scanning under sedation. Basing on close anatomic resemblance, a standard treatment plan comprising 2 opposed irradiation fields could be accomplished.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RT was carried out in a clinical environment with 2 × 9 Gy. The resulting operating procedure facilitated complication-free sedation, transport, positioning, CT scanning, and effective irradiation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on common standards applied for RT in humans, domestic pigs can be employed to progress RT clinical research. Due to their human-like anatomy, physiology, size, and weight, the swine model is expedient for advancing experimental RT of the head and neck area.
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria. Electronic address: Christoph.arnold@i-med.ac.at.
authors.forename: Christoph R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Arnold
authors.affiliation: Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kloss
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Sarvpreet
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Danijela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vasiljevic
authors.affiliation: Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stigler
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy-Radiooncology, Hospital Traunstein, Traunstein, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Auberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wenzel
authors.affiliation: Division of Histology and Embryology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Klima
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lukas
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Innsbruck, Austria; Department of Cell Biology, University Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lepperdinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gassner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D008334:Mandible / Q000528:radiation effects*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D034421:Sus scrofa; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed