FORMATION OF NECROTIC CORES IN THE GROWTH OF TUMORS: ANALYTIC RESULTS

In this article, the author studies the mechanism of formation of necrotic cores in the growth of tumors by using rigorous analysis of a mathematical model. The model modifies a corresponding tumor growth model proposed by Byrne and Chaplain in 1996, in the case where no inhibitors exist. The modification is made such that both necrotic tumors and nonnecrotic tumors can be considered in a joint way. It is proved that if the nutrient supply is below a threshold value, then there is not dormant tumor, and all evolutionary tumors will finally vanish. If instead the nutrient supply is above this threshold value then there is a unique dormant tumor which can either be necrotic or nonnecrotic, depending on the level of the nutrient supply and the level of dead-cell dissolution rate, and all evolutionary tumors will converge to this dormant tumor. It is also proved that, in the se.cond case, if the dormant tumor is necrotic then an evolutionary tumor will form a necrotic core at a finite time, and if the dormant tumor is nonnecrotic then an evolutionary tumor will also be nonnecrotic from a finite time.

A theoretical study on the elastic deformation of cellular phase and creation of necrosis due to the convection reaction process inside a spherical tumor

Several biological processes, such as convective nutrient transport and convective drug delivery in biological tissues involves the transvascular and interstitial movement of biofluids. This work addresses transvascular and interstitial transport of nutrient inside a spherical tumor. Most of the biological tissues behave like deformable porous materiM and show mechanical behavior towards the fluid motion, due to the fact, that the forces like the drag, which is associated with fluid flow may compress the tissue material. On the macroscopic level, transport of solutes like nutrients, drug molecules, etc. within the tumor interstitial space is modeled. The hydrodynamic problem is treated with biphasic mixture theory under steady state and spherically symmetry situation. The transvascular transport of nutrient is modeled with the modified Sterling＇s equation. The present model describes the overall nutrient distribution and predicts various criteria for the necrosis formation inside the tumor. Present study justifies that the parameters, which controls the nutrient supply to the tumor interstitial space through the blood vessel network inside the tumor, competes with reversible nutrient consumption kinetics of the tumor cells. This study also finds the role of some of those parameters on the deformation of cellular phase of the tumor as a consequence of interstitial fluid flow.