Physiologic mechanisms of therapeutic resistance. Blood flow and hypoxia.

The tools now are available to characterize oxygenation/hypoxia in the clinic. The clinical investigations conducted thus far have shown that significant regions of hypoxia exist in solid tumors in patients. Of the various strategies developed in the laboratory for reducing (or eliminating) hypoxia in tumors, the intravenous administration of nontoxic oxygen-carrying materials is probably the most generally applicable in a clinical setting.