Detection of the cardiac function by fractal dimension analysis

Nonlinearity in circulation control attracts attention because nonlinearity is thought to be essential in the function of the living body. Many investigators have pointed out that the analysis of heart rate variability in particular is important in the analysis of autonomic nerve and cardiac function evaluation. Heart rate variability shows nonlinear behavior. However, until the present, many reports have been premised on linearity; linear correlation by frequency analysis has been used by many studies. However, in terms of this methodology, there is a problem applying it to the nonlinear living body. Therefore, fractal and chaos methodology has been used. The ascertainment of cardiac function has become important in allowing the clinical stage of a ventricular assist system to be successful. The purpose of this study was cardiac function evaluation by a methodology that was premised on nonlinearity. Chaos and fractal theory was used as a nonlinear dynamic theory. As a methodology of measurement, the volume of the left ventricle was used rather than an electrocardiogram, the waveform of arterial blood pressure. The volume was measured using acoustic quantification (AQ) ultrasonic echocardiography. Using these methodologies, the time series of many patients were analyzed. For example, drug administration was attempted in this study, and it was found that some drugs like ACE inhibitors showed a significant effect upon nonlinear dynamics in the cardiovascular system. The result, which attempted cardiac function evaluation by these various methodologies, is reported.