Fluid transport in vascularized tumours and metastasis

In this paper we propose a modification to a model of R. K. Jain and L. T. Baxter used to describe fluid transport in vascularized tumours. The model predicts high interstitial pressure in the interior of the tumour together with a rapid decrease in pressure to its periphery in agreement with experiment and the predictions of the Jain-Baxter model. By the addition of a pressure-curvature (Gibbs-Thomson) condition on the periphery of the tumour we are able to show by a perturbation analysis that a lowering of the interstitial pressure can retard tumour growth. Lowering interstitial pressure may also be beneficial to the targeting of therapeutic drugs.