Time series analysis on dysfunction of the autonomous nerve system measured non-invasively with the temperature variation using laser Doppler velocimeter

The authors measured the blood flow, velocity, and volume of the peripheral capillaries using a laser Doppler system. The data factor were blood flow (ml/min/100 g of tissue), blood velocity, and blood volume. Blood volume is defined as average number of Doppler shift per photon. In this paper raw data were collected from the laser Doppler probe which is fixed on the tips of the finger and toe, while varying the surface temperature from the normal state to 44/spl deg/C. The primitive data was converted to digital data using an A/spl times/5412 board (A/D convertor). Then the authors processed the data with time series analysis method of chaos analysis system. After analyzing, they found that the blood flow, velocity and volume of the patient were always larger than those of a normal despite the temperature variation (>1.2/spl plusmn/0.5). Therefore the noninvasive diagnosis of the dysfunction of the ANS (autonomous nervous system) using a laser Doppler system becomes possible.