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Virtual brain tumours (gliomas) enhance the reality of medical imaging and highlight inadequacies of current therapy

Abstract

Gliomas are brain tumours that differ from most other cancers by their diffuse invasion of the surrounding normal tissue and their notorious recurrence following all forms of therapy. We have developed a mathematical model to quantify the spatio-temporal growth and invasion of gliomas in three dimensions throughout a virtual human brain. The model quantifies the extent of tumorous invasion of individual gliomas in three-dimensions to a degree beyond the limits of present medical imaging, including even microscopy, and makes clear why current therapies based on existing imaging techniques are inadequate and cannot be otherwise without other methods for detecting tumour cells in the brain. The model's estimate of the extent of tumourous invasion beyond that defined by standard medical imaging can be useful in more accurately planning therapy regimes as well as predicting sites of potential recurrence without waiting for reemergence on follow-up imaging.

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Acknowledgements

KR Swanson acknowledges the support of the Mathematical Biology Training Grant, the Academic Pathology Fund and the National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. This work (KR Swanson, JD Murray) was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation and (JD Murray) by the US National Institutes of Health. EC Alvord acknowledges the support of a grant from the National Institutes of Health to the Center on Human Development and Disability.

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Correspondence to K R Swanson.

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Swanson, K., Alvord, E. & Murray, J. Virtual brain tumours (gliomas) enhance the reality of medical imaging and highlight inadequacies of current therapy. Br J Cancer 86, 14–18 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6600021

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