Table 3.

Description of each of the growth models tested.

Growth model	Differential equation	General solution
Exponential	dV/dt = rV	V = V 0 exp(r(t − t 0))
Logistic	dV/dt = rV(1 − V/K)	V = K/[1 + (K/V 0 − 1) exp(−r(t − t 0))]
Mendelsohn	dV/dt = rV b	V = ([1 − b] [r(t − t 0) + V 0 1−b/(1 − b)])1/(1−b)
Gompertz	dV/dt = rV exp(−ρ(t − t 0))	V = V 0 exp(r/ρ [1 − exp(−ρ(t − t 0))])
von Bertalanffy	dV/dt = αV 2/3 − βV	V = [α/β − (α/β − V 0 1/3) exp(−β(t − t 0)/3)]3

Parameters r and α represent the tumour growth rate (per day), K the carrying capacity of the tumour, b an exponent determining the shape of the growth curve, ρ the proportional rate of decrease in growth rate, and β the rate of loss due to cell death (see Gerlee 2013 for details).