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Enhanced perfusion following exposure to radiotherapy: A theoretical investigation
Fig 9
Analysing perfusion response.
Panel (A) shows the perfusion response of a single forking network (α = 1.2, 
μm). Considering the central portion of this network, panels (B)–(G) present the progression of flow distributions in the process of pruning, noting that the maximum of the colourmap is set equal to the perfusion threshold (i.e., vessels that are not dark red are hypoperfused). Having pruned (B) the 20 thinnest vessels, the network contains pairs of daughter vessels which experience flow rates slightly below the perfusion threshold (Qmin = 3 × 10−12m3s−1). Pruning one vessel of such a pair is likely to result not only in (C) fewer hypoperfused vessels but also in more perfused vessels due to flow rerouting. Between (D) and (E) and between (F) and (G), we primarily prune blunt ends which increases the perfusion fraction (
) via Mechanism 2. Between (E) and (F), 
dramatically decreases because perfused paths are disrupted.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011252.g009