Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine
Volume 2013 (2013), Article ID 141087, 9 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/141087
Review Article

Modelling Tumour Oxygenation, Reoxygenation and Implications on Treatment Outcome

1Medical Radiation Physics, Stockholm University and Karolinska Institutet, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden
2Department of Radiation Physics UHL, County Council of Östergötland, Radiation Physics and Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, 581 83 Linköping, Sweden

Received 11 December 2012; Accepted 26 December 2012

Academic Editor: Eva Bezak

Copyright © 2013 Iuliana Toma-Dasu and Alexandru Dasu. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Oxygenation is an important component of the tumour microenvironment, having a significant impact on the progression and management of cancer. Theoretical determination of tissue oxygenation through simulations of the oxygen transport process is a powerful tool to characterise the spatial distribution of oxygen on the microscopic scale and its dynamics and to study its impact on the response to radiation. Accurate modelling of tumour oxygenation must take into account important aspects that are specific to tumours, making the quantitative characterisation of oxygenation rather difficult. This paper aims to discuss the important aspects of modelling tumour oxygenation, reoxygenation, and implications for treatment.