A Patient-Specific Anisotropic Diffusion Model for Brain Tumour Spread

Gliomas are primary brain tumours arising from the glial cells of the nervous system. The diffuse nature of spread, coupled with proximity to critical brain structures, makes treatment a challenge. Pathological analysis confirms that the extent of glioma spread exceeds the extent of the grossly visi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of mathematical biology 2018-05, Vol.80 (5), p.1259-1291
Main Authors: Swan, Amanda, Hillen, Thomas, Bowman, John C., Murtha, Albert D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropy
Brain
Brain cancer
Brain Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging
Brain tumors
Cell Biology
Computer Simulation
Diffusion
Diffusion Tensor Imaging - methods
Diffusion Tensor Imaging - statistics & numerical data
Glial cells
Glioma
Glioma - diagnostic imaging
Humans
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Infiltration
Life Sciences
Magnetic resonance imaging
Mathematical and Computational Biology
Mathematical Concepts
Mathematical models
Mathematics
Mathematics and Statistics
Metastases
Neoplasm Invasiveness - diagnostic imaging
Nervous system
Neuroimaging
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Patient-Specific Modeling
Patients
Special Issue : Mathematical Oncology
Substantia alba
Substantia grisea
Tumors
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Summary:Gliomas are primary brain tumours arising from the glial cells of the nervous system. The diffuse nature of spread, coupled with proximity to critical brain structures, makes treatment a challenge. Pathological analysis confirms that the extent of glioma spread exceeds the extent of the grossly visible mass, seen on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Gliomas show faster spread along white matter tracts than in grey matter, leading to irregular patterns of spread. We propose a mathematical model based on Diffusion Tensor Imaging, a new MRI imaging technique that offers a methodology to delineate the major white matter tracts in the brain. We apply the anisotropic diffusion model of Painter and Hillen (J Thoer Biol 323:25–39, 2013 ) to data from 10 patients with gliomas. Moreover, we compare the anisotropic model to the state-of-the-art Proliferation–Infiltration (PI) model of Swanson et al. (Cell Prolif 33:317–329, 2000 ). We find that the anisotropic model offers a slight improvement over the standard PI model. For tumours with low anisotropy, the predictions of the two models are virtually identical, but for patients whose tumours show higher anisotropy, the results differ. We also suggest using the data from the contralateral hemisphere to further improve the model fit. Finally, we discuss the potential use of this model in clinical treatment planning.
ISSN:0092-8240
1522-9602
DOI:10.1007/s11538-017-0271-8