Macroscopic Dynamics of Cancer Growth

S.A. MENCHÓN; C.A. CONDAT

European Physical Journal ST

EDP Sciences, Springer Verlag

Año: 2007 vol. 143 p. 89 - 94

Macroscopic modelling is used to describe various aspects of cancer growth. A recently proposed "dynamical exponent" hypothesis is critically examined in the context of the angiogenic development. It is also shown that the emergence of necroses facilitates the growth of avascular tumors; the model yields an excellent fit to available experimental data, allowing for the determination of growth parameters. Finally, the global effects of an applied antitumoral immunotherapy are investigated. It is shown that, in the long run, the application of a therapeutical course leads to bigger tumors by weakening the intraspecific competition between surviving viable cancer cells. The strength of this model lies in its simplicity and in the amount of information that can be gleaned using only very general ideas.(En 2007 cambió el nombre de la revista: era Journal de Physique IV France)