Abstract Introduction: Vaginal stenosis (VS), characterized by thickening and shortening of the vaginal wall tissue, occurs in up to 80% of women receiving pelvic radiotherapy (PRT), the most common treatment for gynecologic cancers. Yet, a critical barrier to developing more effective therapies is a lack of clinically relevant models to dissect underlying mechanisms. Using the Food and Drug Administration gold-standard for vaginal irritation testing, we have developed a rabbit model of radiation-induced vaginal injury. Methods: Female New Zealand white rabbits were either left untreated or radiated at low dose (LD) (6 Gy) or high dose (HD) (20 Gy) by external beam radiation. After the final radiation fraction, vaginoscopies were conducted once per week for six weeks. Changes to vaginal tissue were scored using five clinical morphological parameters for VS: mucosal pallor, telangiectasia, fragility of the vaginal wall, ulceration, and adhesions/occlusion. Gross vaginal tissue was measured to determine changes in length and diameter. Histopathologic changes to vaginal tissue were determined under H Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2026 Apr 17-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 5272.
Hakim et al. (Fri,) studied this question.