Mass Transport Modeling of Tumor Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging

As part of his Masters thesis, Nicholas Szrama sought to improve diagnostic tumor physiology parameter estimates obtained from dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by developing a general mass transport theory model for tumor contrast agent extravasation. His work involved applying a robust fluid mechanics model to simulate complex biological data. With his simulations he has shown that flow and permeability effects which could diagnostically dissimilar cannot be distinguished without spatial information.