A New Heterogeneity Assessment Model for Tumors in 18F-FDG PET-CT Images

摘要

One of the common characteristics of malignant tumors is biological heterogeneity in terms of cellular and vascular organizations and related heterotypic response to stimulations. This aspect of malignancy has long been known and has classically been described with the histological features of cellular proliferation, necrosis, non-cellular accumulations such as matrix material and fibrous tissue and physiologic characteristics. Furthermore, investigation of tumor microenvironments has demonstrated heterogeneity related to variation in tumor responsiveness to treatment [1, 2], degree of vascularity [3, 4], hypoxia [4-6], proliferation rates [4], energy metabolites, and gene expression [7-9].