Bright Solitary Waves in Malignant Gliomas

Abstract

We put forward a nonlinear wave model describing the fundamental physio-pathologic features of an aggressive type of brain tumors: glioblastomas. Our model accounts for the invasion of normal tissue by a proliferating and propagating rim of active glioma cancer cells in the tumor boundary and the subsequent formation of a necrotic core. By resorting to numerical simulations, phase space analysis and exact solutions, we prove that bright solitary tumor waves develop in such systems.