UCL Biological Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK; and the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre, Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 7DN, UK.
Centre for Research in Complex Systems, School of Community Health, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW 2640, Australia.
Nat Rev Cardiol. 2017 Jan;14(1):56-64. doi: 10.1038/nrcardio.2016.161. Epub 2016 Oct 6.
For clinicians grappling with quantifying the complex spatial and temporal patterns of cardiac structure and function (such as myocardial trabeculae, coronary microvascular anatomy, tissue perfusion, myocyte histology, electrical conduction, heart rate, and blood-pressure variability), fractal analysis is a powerful, but still underused, mathematical tool. In this Perspectives article, we explain some fundamental principles of fractal geometry and place it in a familiar medical setting. We summarize studies in the cardiovascular sciences in which fractal methods have successfully been used to investigate disease mechanisms, and suggest potential future clinical roles in cardiac imaging and time series measurements. We believe that clinical researchers can deploy innovative fractal solutions to common cardiac problems that might ultimately translate into advancements for patient care.
对于那些努力量化心脏结构和功能（如心肌小梁、冠状动脉微血管解剖、组织灌注、心肌组织学、电传导、心率和血压变异性）的复杂时空模式的临床医生来说，分形分析是一种强大但仍未被充分利用的数学工具。在这篇观点文章中，我们解释了分形几何的一些基本原理，并将其置于熟悉的医学环境中。我们总结了心血管科学中成功使用分形方法来研究疾病机制的研究，并提出了在心脏成像和时间序列测量方面的潜在临床应用。我们相信，临床研究人员可以为常见的心脏问题部署创新的分形解决方案，这最终可能转化为患者护理的进步。
