Volumetric Analysis of Tumours and Their Blood Vessels

Summary

In this paper we present first results of our, computer aided, research into angiogenesis process, conducted in association with radiologists from local clinical hospital. Presented here is its informatics part, which was to estimate, basing on CT scans, the quotient of the tumour volume to the number of its capillary veins. Should some correlation be found between the effectiveness of the cancer healing process and the quotient, it would mean that healing is affecting the angiogenesis process.

Angiogenesis is a process of forming new blood vessels from the already existing ones, and is the main cause of violent cancer development. Let us say that cancer cells force the angiogenesis process, thus making vasculature nourishing cancer cells a colony and enabling its growth. Without it, a tumour would be harmless. It is no wonder that modern medicine is trying hard to develop a method to stop the angiogenesis process. If during treatment the number of capillaries decreases, the tumour is less effectively nourished and the disease recedes, furthermore the ability of the cancer to spread over the body is being limited.