A Mathematical Framework for Modeling Brain Tumor Progression and Responses to Radiation Therapy

Introduction: The present work extends a mathematical model that simulates the progression of malignant brain tumors as well as the effect of radiotherapy. In clinical practice, an optimization of treatment outcome, which includes a maximization of tumor control while minimizing normal tissue toxicity, necessitates not only a quantification of the biological effect on cancerous but also on healthy tissue. The present model therefore extends the standard approaches by also modeling the effect of radiotherapy on normal tissue. Ultimately, such models could allow for estimating the biological effect of different treatment schedules and, thus, could contribute to predictions of individualized therapy outcomes.