Numerical Study of Transport of Anticancer Drugs in Heterogeneous Vasculature of Human Brain Tumors Using Dynamic Contrast Enhanced-Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Systemic administration of drugs in tumors is a challenging task due to unorganized microvasculature and nonuniform extravasation. There is an imperative need to understand the transport behavior of drugs when administered intravenously. In this study, a transport model is developed to understand the therapeutic efficacy of a free drug and liposome-encapsulated drugs (LED), in heterogeneous vasculature of human brain tumors. Dynamic contrast enhanced-magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) data is employed to model the heterogeneity in tumor vasculature that is directly mapped onto the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Results indicate that heterogeneous vasculature leads to preferential accumulation of drugs at the tumor position. Higher drug accumulation was found at location of higher interstitial volume, thereby facilitating more tumor cell killing at those areas. Liposome-released drug (LRD) remains inside the tumor for longer time as compared to free drug, which together with higher concentration enhances therapeutic efficacy. The interstitial as well as intracellular concentration of LRD is found to be 2–20 fold higher as compared to free drug, which are in line with experimental data reported in literature. Close agreement between the predicted and experimental data demonstrates the potential of the developed model in modeling the transport of LED and free drugs in heterogeneous vasculature of human tumors.