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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Pathophysiology of Solid Tumors

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It is generally accepted that tumor blood flow, microcirculation, oxygen and nutrient supply, tissue pH distribution, lactate levels, and the bioenergetic status— factors that are usually closely linked and that define the so-called pathophysiological microenvironment (“tumor pathophysiome”)—can markedly influence the therapeutic response of malignant tumors to conventional irradiation, chemotherapy, other non-surgical treatment modalities, malignant progression, and the cell proliferation activity within tumors. Currently available information on the parameters defining the pathophysiological micromilieu in human tumors is presented in this chapter. According to these data, significant variations in these relevant factors are likely to occur between different locations within a tumor and between tumors of the same grading and clinical staging. Therefore, evaluation of the pathophysiological microenvironment in individual tumors before therapy and a corresponding “fine-tuning” of treatment protocols for individual patients may result in an improved tumor response to treatment.