Predicting the Influence of Microvascular Structure On Tumor Response to Radiotherapy

Abstract

By using realistic 3-D vessel network geometries this study shows that real and artificial network descriptions and assumptions of spatially uniform oxygen distributions lead to similar RT response predictions in relatively small tissue volumes. This suggests that either a more detailed description of oxygen transport in the microvasculature is required or that the oxygen enhancement ratio used in the well known linear-quadratic RT response model is relatively insensitive to microvascular structure.

Microvessel Chaste: An Open Library for Spatial Modeling of Vascularized Tissues

“…2, is a 3D simulation of tumor growth in a vessel network geometry obtained using multiphoton imaging after implantation of MC38 tumor cells in a mouse (22). This hybrid, multiscale tumor growth model is similar to many in the literature (6, 8, 10, 26), and in particular, uses submodels and parameter values described in Owen et al.…”

“…It adds functionality for modeling microvessels using line- or surface-based descriptions, allowing a wide range of existing models to be implemented or extended (1, 10, 22). The geometry component is a collection of tools for construction and manipulation of 3D volumes and surfaces, which is useful for detailed modeling of microvessel walls or anatomical features such as the cornea, demonstrated below.…”

“…(10), and Grogan et al. (22) for detailed descriptions of the biological background of incorporated submodels, how they can be coupled, and how they are parameterized using experimental data. Because Microvessel Chaste is a library, users can build their own models, choosing suitable submodels, coupling schemes, and time-stepping strategies.…”

“…Because Microvessel Chaste is a library, users can build their own models, choosing suitable submodels, coupling schemes, and time-stepping strategies. The aforementioned publications (1, 10, 22), web-based tutorials, and software API documentation provide guidance in this regard. Most default experimental parameters in the software are tagged with a literature source and typed over unit, while API documentation and solver names indicate the original literature sources for submodels.…”

“…The library has facilitated the integration of modeling with high-resolution 3D imaging data, as shown in Grogan et al. (22) and below, and will be useful in future model cross-comparison studies.…”