An original method for the analysis of oscillations of cutaneous blood flow has been developed, which makes use of laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) data and is based on the continuous wavelet transform and adaptive wavelet theory. The potential of the method has been demonstrated in experiments with the response of microcirculatory bed to the local linearly-increasing heating of a skin spot. The use of adaptive wavelet transform for analysis of peripheral blood flow oscillations enables one to process short (5 min) LDF signals in a wide frequency range (0.009-2 Hz). The major advantage of the method proposed, as compared to traditional wavelet analysis, has been shown to be a significant reduction of 'border effects'. This makes possible a correct low-frequency component analysis of much shorter LDF signals compared to those used in traditional wavelet processing.

The paper describes an original method for analysis of the peripheral blood flow oscillations measured with the laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) technique. The method is based on the continuous wavelet transform and adaptive wavelet theory and applies an adaptive wavelet filtering to the LDF data. The method developed allows one to examine the dynamics of amplitude oscillations in a wide frequency range (from 0.007 to 2 Hz) and to process both stationary and non-stationary short (6 min) signals. The capabilities of the method have been demonstrated by analyzing LDF signals registered in the state of rest and upon humeral occlusion. The paper shows the main advantage of the method proposed, which is the significant reduction of 'border effects', as compared to the traditional wavelet analysis. It was found that the low-frequency amplitudes obtained by adaptive wavelets are significantly higher than those obtained by non-adaptive ones. The method suggested would be useful for the analysis of low-frequency components of the short-living transitional processes under the conditions of functional tests. The method of adaptive wavelet filtering can be used to process stationary and non-stationary biomedical signals (cardiograms, encephalograms, myograms, etc), as well as signals studied in the other fields of science and engineering.