On the first exit time problem for a Gompertz-type tumor growth

Abstract

A stochastic model describing tumor growth based on Gompertz law is considered. We pay attention on the tumor size at time detection. We assume the initial state as a random variable since it may suffer from errors due to measurement and diagnostics. The aim of the present work is to study the first exit time problem for the resulting stochastic process. A numerical analysis is also performed for particular choices of the initial distribution. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.