[The Göttinger minipig as an animal model in hip endoprosthesis. Anatomy, anesthesia, operation results]

The Göttingen mini swine is a good experimental animal. The electrolytes and the bone healing rate is comparable to human. The weight of the animals should be 30-45 kg. All surgery is performed under endotracheal general anaesthesia without any complication. There is minimal blood loss because blood pressure is only 40/80 mmHg. We used the anterolateral approach. The feature peculiarity of this animal model are: 1. Skin incision should start 10 cm cranial to the tail and should be curved. 2. The osteotomy of the head is V-shaped in maximal external rotation. 3. The acetabulum is prepared with a 23.5 mm reamer. 4. The stem should be implanted first. After completion of the preliminary test operations, 10 animals were operated in the described standard manner. During one year follow-up there was only one radiological cup-loosening.