title: Absorbed dose calculations for rapidly growing tumors.
abstract: One of the most promising areas for cancer therapy with administered radiopharmaceuticals is the treatment of very small tumors and micrometastases. Small tumors and micrometastases, however, may be rapidly growing at the time of treatment, resulting in a substantial change in mass during the period of irradiation. In this work, the formalism required to calculate the average absorbed dose to rapidly growing tumors is developed and applied to an in vitro tumor model. Further application to in vivo human myeloma tumors reveals that tumor growth may have a significant effect on the average dose delivered to the tumor from incorporated radionuclides. These considerations may assist in establishing dose-response relationships necessary for radiopharmaceutical cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark 07103.
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Howell
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Narra
authors.forename: D V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Rao
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D013997:Time Factors; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects