2015/12/31 by Christina-Marina Breki, Breki, Christina-Marina, Antonia Dimitrakopoulou‐Strauss +11
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Mathematics · #Advanced Biosensing Techniques and Applications #Cell Image Analysis Techniques #Computational Drug Discovery Methods #FOS: Physical sciences #Mathematical Biology Tumor Growth #Medical Physics (physics.med-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1601.00632
openalex publication_date 2015/12/31 · openalex created_date 2022/10/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
PET/CT with F-18-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) images of patients suffering from\nmetastatic melanoma have been analysed using fractal and multifractal analysis\nto assess the impact of monoclonal antibody ipilimumab treatment with respect\nto therapy outcome. Our analysis shows that the fractal dimensions which\ndescribe the tracer dispersion in the body decrease consistently with the\ndeterioration of the patient therapeutic outcome condition. In 20 out-of 24\ncases the fractal analysis results match those of the medical records, while 7\ncases are considered as special cases because the patients have non-tumour\nrelated medical conditions or side effects which affect the results. The\ndecrease in the fractal dimensions with the deterioration of the patient\nconditions (in terms of disease progression) are attributed to the hierarchical\nlocalisation of the tracer which accumulates in the affected lesions and does\nnot spread homogeneously throughout the body. Fractality emerges as a result of\nthe migration patterns which the malignant cells follow for propagating within\nthe body (circulatory system, lymphatic system). Analysis of the multifractal\nspectrum complements and supports the results of the fractal analysis. In the\nkinetic Monte Carlo modelling of the metastatic process a small number of\nmalignant cells diffuse throughout a fractal medium representing the blood\ncirculatory network. Along their way the malignant cells engender random\nmetastases (colonies) with a small probability and, as a result, fractal\nspatial distributions of the metastases are formed similar to the ones observed\nin the PET/CT images. In conclusion, we propose that fractal and multifractal\nanalysis has potential application in the quantification of the evaluation of\nPET/CT images to monitor the disease evolution as well as the response to\ndifferent medical treatments.\n