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A Comparison and Catalog of Intrinsic Tumor Growth Models

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Abstract

Determining the mathematical dynamics and associated parameter values that should be used to accurately reflect tumor growth continues to be of interest to mathematical modelers, experimentalists and practitioners. However, while there are several competing canonical tumor growth models that are often implemented, how to determine which of the models should be used for which tumor types remains an open question. In this work, we determine the best fit growth dynamics and associated parameter ranges for ten different tumor types by fitting growth functions to at least five sets of published experimental growth data per type of tumor. These time-series tumor growth data are used to determine which of the five most common tumor growth models (exponential, power law, logistic, Gompertz, or von Bertalanffy) provides the best fit for each type of tumor.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Harvey Mudd College for providing us with the resources to complete this publication, and Dr. Ami Radunskaya, who provided feedback on the undergraduate thesis paper from which this work was adapted.

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  1. Department of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA , 91711, USA

    E. A. Sarapata & L. G. de Pillis

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  1. E. A. Sarapata
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Correspondence to E. A. Sarapata or L. G. de Pillis .

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Sarapata, E.A., de Pillis , L.G. A Comparison and Catalog of Intrinsic Tumor Growth Models. Bull Math Biol 76, 2010–2024 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-014-9986-y

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