US 8,571,844 B2Granted

Method and system for characterizing tumors

OwnerKristin R. Swanson, Ellsworth C. Alvord, Jr. +2inventors

InventorsKristin R. Swanson, Ellsworth C. Alvord, Jr., James D. Murray, Russell Rockne

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Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to determining the spatial extent, aggressiveness, and other characteristics of various types of tumors, including glioma tumors that occur in brain tissue. Various embodiments of the present invention use parameterized computational models to characterize tumor growth and employ medical imaging technologies to generate images and other types of data from which values of parameters of the computational models are derived. Having obtained the parameters for a particular tumor, the extent of the tumor is estimated, with high accuracy, and other characteristics of the tumor are derived from the parameterized computational models.

Claims37

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method of modeling tumor growth for guiding medical intervention, comprising:

(a) calculating ρ/D, an observed ratio of a malignant cell proliferation coefficient, ρ, to a diffusion coefficient, D, from one or more different measures of tumor volume from either a single or multiple images of a tumor, which calculating comprises mapping the following formula derived from an analytic solution of a linear tumor model to a non-linear tumor model:
(
ρ
D
)
c
=
[
4
⁢
⁢
ln
⁡
(
t
1
t
2
)
(
T
⁢
⁢
2
⁢
r
eqv
)
2
-
(
T
⁢
⁢
1
⁢
r
eqv
)
2
]
⁡
[
[
⁢
T
⁢
⁢
1
⁢
r
eqv
2
⁢
ln
⁡
(
t
1
t
2
)
(
T
⁢
⁢
2
⁢
r
eqv
)
2
-
(
T
⁢
⁢
1
⁢
⁢
r
eqv
)
2
]
+
ln
⁢
⁢
t
1
⁢
k
N
0
⁡
[
∏
⁢
(
T
⁢
⁢
2
⁢
r
eqv
2
-
T
⁢
⁢
1
⁢
r
eqv
2
)
ln
⁡
(
t
1
t
2
)
]
3
/
2
]
where
T1reqv and T2reqv are the radii of the equivalent, spherical tumor volumes corresponding to the one or more different measures of tumor volume, respectively;
t1 and t2 are threshold tumor cell concentrations for two of said measures of tumor volume,
k is maximum malignant-cell concentration;
and
N0 is an initial malignant-cell concentration or number;
(b) obtaining a value for D and a value for ρ;
and
(c) generating a computational model for growth of the tumor in a cancer patient using the values of D and ρ obtained in step (b);
wherein steps (a)-(c) are performed using a computer system.

138 more elements

A computer program product for modeling tumor growth and for guiding medical intervention comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium which, when executed by a computer causes a method to be performed, the method comprising:

(a) calculating a ratio, ρ/D, an observed ratio of a malignant cell proliferation coefficient, ρ, to a diffusion coefficient, D, from one or more different measures of tumor volume from either a single or multiple images of a tumor, which calculating comprises mapping the following formula derived from an analytic solution of a linear tumor model to a non-linear tumor model:
(
ρ
D
)
c
=
[
4
⁢
⁢
ln
⁡
(
t
1
t
2
)
(
T
⁢
⁢
2
⁢
r
eqv
)
2
-
(
T
⁢
⁢
1
⁢
r
eqv
)
2
]
⁡
[
[
⁢
T
⁢
⁢
1
⁢
r
eqv
2
⁢
ln
⁡
(
t
1
t
2
)
(
T
⁢
⁢
2
⁢
r
eqv
)
2
-
(
T
⁢
⁢
1
⁢
⁢
r
eqv
)
2
]
+
ln
⁢
⁢
t
1
⁢
k
N
0
⁡
[
∏
⁢
(
T
⁢
⁢
2
⁢
r
eqv
2
-
T
⁢
⁢
1
⁢
r
eqv
2
)
ln
⁡
(
t
1
t
2
)
]
3
/
2
]
where
T1reqv and T2reqv are the radii of the equivalent, spherical tumor volumes corresponding to the one or more different measures of tumor volume, respectively;
t1 and t2 are threshold tumor cell concentrations for two of said measures of tumor volume,
k is maximum malignant-cell concentration;
and
N0 is an initial malignant-cell concentration or number;
(b) obtaining a value for D and a value for ρ;
and
(c) generating a computational model for tumor growth of the tumor in a cancer patient using the values of D and ρ obtained in (b);
wherein the computer-readable medium is non-transitory.

138 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.