Mechanics of lung cancer: A finite element model shows strain amplification during early tumorigenesis
Fig 3
Lung tumors amplify strain in surrounding alveoli during inspiration.
Strain colormaps after 20% stretch. A. Normal lung, B. lung with 2 kPa early tumor, and C. lung with a 20 kPa late tumor. Dotted line represents the location on the normal mesh of the tumor boundary. Colormap is % Green-Lagrange shell strain. D-F. Strain ratios in each model. Inset in D. is a schematic of the measured alveolar wall segments in which the dark-to-light colors represent the distance from the tumor edge. Boxes are 25th percentile to 75th percentile with the median and maximum and minimum values labeled. In D., for all comparisons of strain ratio in the normal lung, p > 0.999. Distribution includes all alveolar wall segments at each indicated distance.