FLUID TRANSPORT IN VASCULARIZED TUMORS AND METASTASIS

In this paper we propose a modification to a model of R. K. Jain and L . T. Baxter used to describe fluid transport in vascularized tumours. The model predicts high interstitial pressure in the interior of the t umour together with a rapid decrease in pressure to its periphery in a greement with experiment and the predictions of the Jain-Baxter model. By the addition of a pressure-curvature (Gibbs-Thomson) condition on the periphery of the tumour we are able to show by a perturbation anal ysis that a lowering of the interstitial pressure can retard tumour gr owth. Lowering interstitial pressure may also be beneficial to the tar geting of therapeutic drugs.