Fig. 2.
The pharmacokinetic model schematics. The basic structure of the PK model consists of two compartments: plasma compartment and tumor compartment. The two parameters, kin and kout, represent the rates at which a contrast agent fluxes in and out of the tumor compartment, respectively. Based on the pictorial schematic, the two-compartmental PK model assumes homogeneous distribution and constant volume in each compartment. Parameters are derived from curve-fitting the PK model curve to empirical MSOT data.