TY - JOUR

T1 - Stochastic dynamics of the cardiovascular system

AU - McClintock, Peter V. E.

AU - Stefanovska, Aneta

N1 - Copyright 2004 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited. http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.555849

PY - 2004/5/25

Y1 - 2004/5/25

N2 - The human cardiovascular system (CVS), responsible for the delivery of nutrients and removal of waste products to/from the entire body, is a highly complex system involving many control mechanisms. Signals derived from the CVS are inherently difficult to analyse because they are noisy, time-varying, and of necessarily limited duration. The application of techniques drawn from nonlinear science has, however, yielded many insights into the nature of the CVS, and has provided strong evidence for a large degree of determinism in the way it functions. Yet there is compelling evidence that random fluctuations (noise) also play an essential role. There are at least five oscillatory processes of widely differing frequency involved in the blood distribution. The evidence for them, and their probable physiological origins, are discussed. Interactions between some of the processes can give rise to modulation and synchronization phenomena, very similar to those observed in classical oscillators in many areas of physics. The extent to which the CVS can be modelled as a stochastic nonlinear dynamical system is reviewed, and future research directions and possible applications based on this perception are considered.

AB - The human cardiovascular system (CVS), responsible for the delivery of nutrients and removal of waste products to/from the entire body, is a highly complex system involving many control mechanisms. Signals derived from the CVS are inherently difficult to analyse because they are noisy, time-varying, and of necessarily limited duration. The application of techniques drawn from nonlinear science has, however, yielded many insights into the nature of the CVS, and has provided strong evidence for a large degree of determinism in the way it functions. Yet there is compelling evidence that random fluctuations (noise) also play an essential role. There are at least five oscillatory processes of widely differing frequency involved in the blood distribution. The evidence for them, and their probable physiological origins, are discussed. Interactions between some of the processes can give rise to modulation and synchronization phenomena, very similar to those observed in classical oscillators in many areas of physics. The extent to which the CVS can be modelled as a stochastic nonlinear dynamical system is reviewed, and future research directions and possible applications based on this perception are considered.

U2 - 10.1117/12.555849

DO - 10.1117/12.555849

M3 - Journal article

VL - 5467

SP - 54

EP - 68

JO - Proceedings of SPIE

JF - Proceedings of SPIE

SN - 0277-786X

ER -