Mathematical modeling of glioma invasion and therapy approaches via kinetic theory of active particles

TL;DR

This paper develops a multiscale kinetic theory model to simulate glioma invasion and evaluate combined therapy strategies, integrating patient-specific data and realistic brain geometry for improved treatment insights.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multiscale kinetic model that incorporates vascularization and therapy effects, validated with real patient data and realistic brain geometries.

Findings

Model effectively simulates glioma spread and response to therapies.

Combines radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and anti-angiogenic treatments in a unified framework.

Provides insights into optimal therapy timing and combination strategies.

Abstract

We propose here a multiscale model for study the effect of combined therapies on glioma spread in the brain under the influence of vascularization. The model accounts for the interplay between the different components of the neoplasm and the healthy tissue and it investigates and compares various therapy approaches. Precisely, these involve radio- and chemotherapy in a concurrent or adjuvant manner together with anti-angiogenic therapy affecting the vascular component of the system. We assess tumor growth and spread on the basis of DTI data, which allows us to reconstruct a realistic brain geometry and tissue structure, and we apply our model to real glioma patient data. In this latter case, a space-dependent radiotherapy description is considered using data about the corresponding isodose curves.