Speaker
Description
The observation and ability to form prognosis for the amount and sizes of possible metastases of a tumor is of high interest for oncologists. Mathematical models describing the seeding and growth of metastases are possibly of clinical use in optimizing individual therapy algorithms.
I adapted the well-known von-Foerster equation used by Iwata, Kawasaki and Shigesada (2000) to describe metastases’ dynamics when metastases are seeded at a cell size of exactly one. With redefined boundary conditions I was capable to reformulate the model to describe the seeding of metastasis of any size, also taking into account secondary metastases. As the model is defined in a continuous way, it can also be used to model a crossing of a T1N0M0 cancer towards an uprising metastatic disease.
The model is illustrated numerically with the data given by Iwata et al. to examine the differences of both approaches. Further, some therapy dynamics are included into the model equations for being able to analyze clinical data.
