The relationship between vascular oxygen distribution and tissue oxygenation.

Tumour oxygenation could be investigated through several methods that use various measuring principles and can therefore highlight its different aspects. The results have to be subsequently correlated, but this might not be straightforward due to intrinsic limitations of the measurement methods. This study describes an analysis of the relationship between vascular and tissue oxygenations that may help the interpretation of results. Simulations have been performed with a mathematical model that calculates the tissue oxygenation for complex vascular arrangements by taking into consideration the oxygen diffusion into the tissue and its consumption at the cells. The results showed that while vascular and tissue oxygenations are deterministically related, the relationship between them is not unequivocal and this could lead to uncertainties when attempting to correlate them. However, theoretical simulation could bridge the gap between the results obtained with various methods.