Linearity and non-linearity in cerebral hemodynamics
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Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Assessment of Cerebral Lateralization in Children using Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (fTCD)
Published on: September 26, 2010
Cole A Giller1, Martin Mueller
1The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Neurosurgery, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-8855, USA. cole.giller@utsouthwestern.edu
Background:
Transcranial Doppler ultrasound has been extensively used to study cerebral hemodynamics, and yet the basic characteristics of the input/output system of blood pressure/velocity are little known. We examine whether this system can best be considered linear or non-linear.
Methods:
We assessed the adequacy of linear modeling in four ways: (1) Known properties of cerebral blood flow were reviewed and analyzed from a systems standpoint; (2) 1100 ARX & OE model types were tested with data from 29 normal subjects, with and without lowpass filtering; (3) time-frequency analysis was used to identify nonstationary behavior and markers of non-linearity (such as bifurcations, chirps, and intermittent autoregulatory impairment) in the same data sets; (4) simple computer models of autoregulation incorporating time delays and non-linear elements were tested for production of spontaneous oscillations.
Results:
(1) Several aspects of cerebral hemodynamics are poorly described by linear models, (2) the ARX & OE models performed poorly, (3) time-frequency analysis showed non-linear and nonstationary behavior, (4) the computer models produced spontaneous oscillations similar to those observed in humans.
Conclusions:
There is strong evidence that the blood pressure/velocity system is non-linear.
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