Hydrodynamics and convection enhanced macromolecular fluid transport in soft biological tissues: Application to solid tumor

This work addresses a theoretical framework for transvascular exchange and extravascular transport of solute macromolecules through soft interstitial space inside a solid tumor. Most of the soft biological tissues show materialistic properties similar to deformable porous material. They exhibit mechanical behavior towards the fluid motion since the solid phase of the tumor tissue gets compressed by the drag force that is associated with the extracellular fluid flow. This paper presents a general view about the transvascular and interstitial transport of solute nutrients inside a tumor in the macroscopic level. Modified Starling׳s equation is used to describe transvascular nutrient transport. On the macroscopic level, motion of extracellular fluid within the tumor interstitium is modeled with the help of biphasic mixture theory and a spherical symmetry solution is given as a simpler case. This present model describes the average interstitial fluid pressure (IFP), extracellular fluid velocity (EFV) and flow rate of extracellular fluid, as well as the deformation of the solid phase of the tumor tissue as an immediate cause of extracellular fluid flow. When the interstitial transport is diffusion dominated, an analytical treatment of advection–diffusion–reaction equation finds the overall nutrient distribution. We propose suitable criteria for the formation of necrosis within the tumor interstitium. This study introduces some parameters that represent the nutrient supply from tumor blood vessels into the tumor extracellular space. These transport parameters compete with the reversible nutrient metabolism of the tumor cells present in the interstitium. The present study also shows that the effectiveness factor corresponding to a first order nutrient metabolism may reach beyond unity if the strength of the distributive solute source assumes positive non-zero values. •We model steady fluid transport process inside soft tumor.•Mixture theory equations are used here to describe the hydrodynamic model.•We discuss about the formation of necrosis inside the tumor interstitium.•Solid phase exhibits mechanical behavior to the extracellular fluid flow.•Effectiveness factor may exceed unity due to perfusion across micro-vessel.