Treating cancer patients with metastatic disease remains an ultimate challenge in
clinical oncology. Because invasive cancer precludes or limits the use of surgery,
metastatic setting is often associated with (poor) survival, rather than sustained
remission, in patients with common cancers like lung, digestive or breast carcinomas.
Mathematical modeling may help us better identify non detectable metastatic status to in
turn optimize treatment for patients with metastatic disease. In this paper we present a
family of models for the metastatic growth. They are based on four principles : to be as
simple as possible, involving the least possible number of parameters, the main
informations are obtained from the primary tumor and being able to recover the variety of
phenomena observed by the clinicians. Several simulations of therapeutic strategies are
presented illustrating possible applications of modeling to the clinic.