Fractal analysis in clinical screening and investigation

Clinical interpretation, diagnosis and treatment are subject to integrating a myriad of different data, which in their turn characterise a large number of pathological attributes. More often than not this complex array of data is difficult to interpret by physicians and often not conducive to gaining an understanding of disease processes.The use of fractal analysis for the characterisation of disease acknowledges the complex factors leading to the data collected. This chapter looks at both mono- and multi-fractal analysis applied to biological structures and to time series measurements relevant to the understanding of disease. We show that fractal analysis, while being a useful tool for characterisation of structure, can also lead to new understanding of disease progression.