The Fluid Mechanics of Cancer and Its Therapy

Fluid mechanics is involved in the growth, progression, metastasis, and therapy of cancer. Blood vessels transport oxygen and nutrients to cancerous tissues, provide a route for metastasizing cancer cells to distant organs, and deliver drugs to tumors. The irregular and leaky tumor vasculature is responsible for increased interstitial pressure in the tumor microenvironment, whereas multiscale flow-structure interaction processes control tumor growth, metastasis, and nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery. We outline these flow-mediated processes, along with related experimental and computational methods for the diagnosis, predictive modeling, and therapy of cancer.