A Mathematical Model of Tumor Progression and Radiation Therapy

Purpose The present work introduces a mathematical model that simulates tumor growth and the effect of radiotherapy. The ultimate goal of radiotherapy is to maximize tumor control while minimizing the negative effects on healthy tissue. Typically, mathematical models simulate the effect of irradiation on tumor tissue. But for an optimization of treatment parameters in terms of tumor control and radiation damage it is necessary to quantify the biological effect on tumor and healthy tissue. Such models could allow for predicting the biological effect of different treatment schedules. The present model therefore extends the standard approaches [2,3] by modeling also the effect of radiotherapy on normal tissue.