A cellular automaton model of brain tumor growth and treatment

Authors

Ramon Jose Cavitana Bagunu ⋅ PH Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, University of the Philippines Manila
Herbert Boras Domingo ⋅ PH Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, University of the Philippines Manila
Roberto S. Vitancol ⋅ PH Department of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, University of the Philippines Manila and National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines Diliman

Abstract

Growth and development of an idealized tumor was simulated using a cellular automaton model. Tumor progression was observed to qualitatively agree with the Gompertzian growth, a behavior observed from real-life tumors like the Glioblastoma multiforme. This is characterized by a period of dormancy at early stages, eventually leading to exponential growth followed by saturation at its later stages. The model was extended to simulate tumor growth under the influence of treatment with a 14-day treatment-rest period. For different clone sensitivities, tumor growth is slowed down by the treatment but it is still not enough to completely inhibit tumor proliferation, which then leads to eventual recurrence. Due to included assumptions and simplifications, this study serves as a preliminary step toward the development of different treatment strategies using the cellular automaton.

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Issue

2017: Proceedings of the 35th Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas Physics Conference

Article ID

SPP-2017-PB-24

Section

Poster Session B (Complex Systems, Simulations, and Theoretical Physics)

Published

2017-06-07

How to Cite

[1]

RJC Bagunu, HB Domingo, and RS Vitancol, A cellular automaton model of brain tumor growth and treatment, Proceedings of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas 35, SPP-2017-PB-24 (2017). URL: https://proceedings.spp-online.org/article/view/122.