Evaluation of a Voxelized Model Based on DCE-MRI for Tracer Transport in Tumor

Abstract

Recent advances in the treatment of cancer involving therapeutic agents have shown promising results. However, treatment efficacy can be limited due to inadequate and uneven uptake in solid tumors, thereby making the prediction of drug transport important for developing effective therapeutic strategies. In this study, a patient-specific computational porous media model (voxelized model) was developed for predicting the interstitial flow field and distribution of a systemically delivered magnetic resonance (MR) visible tracer in a tumor. The benefits of a voxel approach include less labor and less computational time (approximately an order of magnitude reduction compared to the traditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach developed earlier by our group). The model results were compared with that obtained from a previous approach based on unstructured meshes along with MR-measured tracer concentration data within tumors, using statistical analysis and qualitative representations. The statistical analysis indicated the similarity between the structured and unstructured models’ results with a low root mean square error (RMS) and a high correlation coefficient. The voxelized model captured features of the flow field and tracer distribution such as high interstitial fluid pressure inside the tumor and the heterogeneous distribution of the tracer. Predictions of tracer distribution by the voxelized approach also resulted in low RMS error when compared with MR-measured data over a 1 h time course. The similarity in the voxelized model results with experiment and the nonvoxelized model predictions were maintained across three different tumors. Overall, the voxelized model serves as a reliable and swift alternative to approaches using unstructured meshes in predicting extracellular transport within tumors.