POST-SURGICAL PASSIVE RESPONSE OF LOCAL ENVIRONMENT TO PRIMARY TUMOR REMOVAL II: HETEROGENEOUS MODEL

Abstract

An earlier mathematical model is further developed to describe the post-surgical response of the local environment to the removal of a spherical tumor in an infinite heterogeneous domain. The primary tumor is postulated to be a source of growth inhibitor prior to its removal at t=0. Closed form analytic solutions are derived, and the resulting relaxation wave arriving from the disturbed (previously steady) state is studied. The model arises from clinical observations of metastatic inhibition by angiostatin, an angiogenesis inhibitor.