Philippe Buchler

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  Mechanically-coupled Reaction-Diffusion model of Glioma Growth
  Philippe Buchler

  Brain tumours represent a rare but serious medical condition. With an incidence of six cases per 100000, gliomas are the most frequent primary brain tumours in adults, accounting for 70% of cases. Gliomas are classified into four grades by increasing aggressiveness, based on their microscopic structure and cellular activity. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most frequent and most malignant sub-type of glioma (grade IV), accounting for about 50% of diffuse gliomas. These tumours infiltrate surrounding healthy tissue, grow rapidly and form a necrotic core of high cell density, which is accompanied by compression and displacement of surrounding tissue. This so-called mass-effect leads to an increase in intra-cranial pressure and the progressive on-set of a multitude of pressure-related symptoms, such as headache and nausea. Compensation mechanisms for regulating intra-cranial pressure fail beyond a critical tumour volume, so that any additional volume increase will result in a decisive rise in intra- cranial pressure and related acute clinical worsening, including coma or death due to herniation

  
  

  Given the importance of mechanical effects, we have started a systematic numerical analysis of the dependence of morphological and mechanical tumour characteristics on their growth location. This study is part of an ongoing effort to establish a model of the macroscopic mechanical aspects of tumour growth that can also be integrated into multi-scale cancer models, such as those proposed by the CHIC project.