Carcinogenesis models for risk assessment

Abstract

This article provides an overview of different types of carcinogenesis models and discusses their use for risk assessment. One class of model, the multistage model, is especially suited for risk assessment purposes because it uses biological information about the process of carcinogenesis and the quantities of interest, such as time to tumour and number and size distribution of premalignant tumours, can be derived explicitly, allowing for standard statistical techniques to be used. The mathematical methods necessary for the treatment of multistage models are developed and the application of multistage models in risk assessment is discussed.