• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.47-54
• /
• 2011

In traditional Korean medicine, inspection of the tongue is an important method of making medical diagnoses and determining prognosis. We surveyed the fluorescence characteristics of the tongue coat in the ultraviolet light. The tongue coat comprises micro-organisms, blood metabolites, leukocytes from periodontal pockets, large amounts of desquamated epithelial cells released from the oral mucosa and different nutrients. In the ultraviolet light tissues of the oral cavity generally emit weak red or green fluorescence, which is not easily seen by the human eye, but is readily detected. This fluorescence has been proved to be due to the production of porphyrins by oral micro-organisms. While the composition of motile micro-organisms on the dorsum of the tongue is not constant, variations also occur persistingly in the fluorescence characteristics of the tongue coat. But because live bacteria contain a variety of intracellular biomolecules that have specific excitation and emission wavelength spectra characterizing their intrinsic fluorescence, the tongue coat emits fluorescence. the tongue itself, on the other hand, emits very weak or not fluorescence. In conclusion, we suggests that the uncoated tongue area be eliminated from the coated tongue area with the difference between the fluorescence characteristics of the tongue and that of the tongue coat.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.945-961
• /
• 2019

Tongue diagnosis is one of the most important diagnostic methods in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Tongue image segmentation aims to extract the image object (i.e., tongue body), which plays a key role in the process of manufacturing an automated tongue diagnosis system. It is still challenging, because there exists the personal diversity in tongue appearances such as size, shape, and color. This paper proposes an innovative segmentation method that uses image thresholding, gray projection and active contour model (ACM). Specifically, an initial object region is first extracted by performing image thresholding in HSI (i.e., Hue Saturation Intensity) color space, and subsequent morphological operations. Then, a gray projection technique is used to determine the upper bound of the tongue body root for refining the initial object region. Finally, the contour of the refined object region is smoothed by ACM. Experimental results on a dataset composed of 100 color tongue images showed that the proposed method obtained more accurate segmentation results than other available state-of-the-art methods.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.322-333
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this thesis is to show the historical context of tongue-viscera correspondence scheme based on as wide investigation as possible. For this purpose, we collected and investigated 35 books related to tongue diagnosis. As a result, we faound the following: There were some tentative trials to associate viscera or viscera meridians with tongue areas since shown in the Effective formulae of inherited medical works (世醫得效方, 1337). The main stream of tongue-viscera correspondence scheme was the form in which the apex, the center, and the root of tongue are associated with Heart, Spleen (and Stomach), and Kidney. On the viscera correspondence to the sides of tongue, there had been two streams. The first one is originated from the Upper-most Book on Shanghan (傷寒第一書, 1780), in which the sides of tongue are assumed to be associated with Liver and Gall-bladder. The second one is originated from the Ikeda Family's Chant on the Tongue (池田家舌函口訣, 1807), in which the left side and the right side of tongue are assumed to be associated with Liver and Lung separately. The former type have been accepted as the standard form in modern traditional Asian medicine education. In addition to the above types, three other correspondence schemes were also existed, but have disappeared now. These days, some new correspondence schemes are being suggested based on new approaches.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.112-120
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this study was to analyze whether quantitative evaluation of the color of the tongue substance using $L^*a^*b^*$ color coordinates system could minimize the problems arising from the different illuminating conditions or not. In controlled 4 different illuminating conditions (by natural light, flashlight, f-number, shutter speed),12 healthy subjects were photographed of their tongue substance through a digital camera (C-2100uz, Olympus Co.), both on the top surface and on the bottom surface of the tongue substance by two examiners, twice at 3 day intervals. Clinician evaluation was also performed grading the redness of the tongue substance in the form of 5-points scale by 6 clinicians. As a result, there was no significant difference in color differences between the color of the tongue substance and the reference red card in the 4 different illuminating conditions. Intra-rater reliability was satisfied and even though limitedly, inter-rater reliability was satisfied. Color differences were significantly correlated with the results by the clinicians, although they were applicable limitedly to specific illuminating conditions. Our results indicate that the application of the color differences in tongue diagnosis could not only evaluate the color information quantitatively, but also minimize the problems arising from the different illuminating conditions and that there was the significant difference in the visual evaluation of the red color of the tongue substance, both between the clinicians and between the illuminating conditions.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.32-41
• /
• 2021

Objectives: We aim to observe the relation of body mass index (BMI) and the indicators of oral health. Methods: 400 subjects participated in the study. The BMI values are calculated from the height and weight. For the tongue diagnosis, we used the tongue imaging device to analyze the color, tongue coating, and tooth marks. We measured the concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and methyl mercaptan (CH₃SH) to evaluate the halitosis. The dry mouth was evaluated through the measurement of saliva secretion and with the questionnaire asking the frequency of dry mouth. Results: The BMI values were significantly higher in the group with light-white and blue-purple colored tongue, and significantly lower for lightly-coated tongue. However, the correlation of BMI and the amounts of saliva secretion was not significant as well as in the correlation of BMI and the concentration of H₂S, CH₃SH. In tongue diagnosis, the subjects who had blue-purple colored tongue also had significantly higher H₂S and CH₃SH, but tendency of lower saliva secretion. Conclusion: We obtain data showing that BMI value and the indicators of oral health including tongue diagnosis have meaningful correlation.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.242-254
• /
• 2023

Although upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are common diseases, there have been no studies of their relationship with the indices obtained from tongue image analyses. The purpose of this study was to identify a tongue index through an analysis of tongue images (TIs) showing significant changes before and after treatment in patients with URTIs. A computerized tongue image acquisition system was developed to acquire TIs from subjects in the same environment. An image was taken from each of 39 URTI patients and 39 healthy controls. For the patients, images were acquired before and after treatment to identify changes. The tongue area was classified into a tongue body and a tongue coating, and the coating ratio between the two areas, the average value of the colour of each area, and teeth marks were calculated. No significant difference was observed in age or sex between the URTI patients and control participants. Heart rates were slightly different. The analysis of TIs showed that the luminance of the tongue coating and the coating area ratio were decreased, while the reddish value of the tongue body at the centre area increased as the treatment progressed. Tongue coating and body in URTIs had different colour and shape from those in the normal. It is expected that this result will contribute not only to the objectification of traditional Chinese medicine but also to diagnostic methods that do not involve face-to-face physician visit during the pandemic.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.320-326
• /
• 2016

Tongue diagnosis is convenient and non-invasive method to examine the body's functional condition, and it has been frequently used in traditional Korean Medicine (KM). The aim of this study was to investigate the difference of the tongue color assessed by computerized tongue image analysis system (CTIS) between the common cold (CC) patients and healthy subjects. A total of 85 participants, including 45 CC patients without organic diseases and 40 healthy subjects, were asked to complete the CC symptom questionnaire. A tongue image was acquired by using CTIS. Color differences in Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) L*, a* and b* between the CC patient group and the control group were analyzes by using paired t-test analysis. The variable CIE b* of the tongue body was significantly lower in CC than that in controls (P=0.019). The variable CIE L* of the tongue coating was significantly higher in CC than that in controls (P=0.032). In CC, the color of the tongue body seems to be changed to intense red color. The color of the tongue coating seems to be changed to thick fur. The present study demonstrated that the CTIS can be used as a diagnostic and monitoring tool for the objective and standardized evaluation of common cold in clinics.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2012

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to specify major tongue diagnostic indicators and evaluate their significance in discriminating pattern identification subtypes in stroke patients. Methods: This study used a community based multi-center observational design. Participants (n=1,502) were stroke patients admitted to 11 oriental medical university hospitals between December 2006 and February 2010. To determine which tongue indicator affected each pattern identification, a decision tree analysis of the chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) algorithm was performed. The chi-squared test was used as the criterion in splitting data with a p-value less than 0.05 for division, which is the main procedure for developing a decision tree. The minimum sample size for each node was specified as n =10, and branching was limited to two levels. Results: From the 9 tongue diagnostic indicators, 6 major tongue indicators (red tongue, pale tongue, yellow fur, white fur, thick fur, and teeth-marked tongue) were identified through the decision tree analysis. Furthermore, each pattern identification was composed of specific combinations of the 6 major tongue indicators. Conclusions: This study suggests that the 6 tongue indicators identified through the decision tree analysis can be used to discriminate pattern identification subtypes in stroke patients. However, it is still necessary to re-evaluate other pattern identification indicators to further the objectivity and reliability of traditional Korean medicine.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.420-427
• /
• 2017

This paper proposes a new method using Wide Line Detector based statistical shape Feature (WLDF) to identify whether or not a tongue is cracked; a cracked tongue is one of the most frequently used visible features for diagnosis in traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). We first detected a wide line in the tongue image, and then extracted WLDF, such as the maximum length of each detected region, and the ratio between maximum length and the area of the detected region. We trained a binary support vector machine (SVM) based on the WLDF to build a classifier for cracked tongues. We conducted an experiment based on our proposed scheme, using 196 samples of cracked tongues and 245 samples of non-cracked tongues. The results of the experiment indicate that the recognition accuracy of the proposed method is greater than 95%. In addition, we provide an analysis of the results of this experiment with different parameters, demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.77-89
• /
• 2013

Objectives Tongue diagnosis is an important diagnostic method in traditional Eastern medicine, and it has a high potential to be used in the future healthcare because of easy, quick, and non-contact measuring features. Recently, research and development efforts on computerized tongue diagnosis systems (CTDS) have been active that led to the technical advancements in the field of photographing techniques, image extraction and classification algorithms. In this study, we analyzed the trends in the CTDS patents. Using the WIPS search engine (www.wipsglobal.com), quantitative and qualitative patent analyses were performed through Korea, China, Japan, U.S.A and Europe. Methods For a systematic search and data analysis, we defined patent categories based on the application area and technical details. By applying thus-obtained categorical key words, we obtained 360 relevant patents on photographing techniques, image extraction and classification algorithms for the purpose of diagnosis or security. Results As a result, companies related to image acquisition, medical imaging and mobile devices and research groups of universities in East Asia were major patent applicants. In all the five countries, the number of patents have been increasing since 1980. In particular, technology related to color correction and image segmentation were most actively patented categories, and expected to continue a high application rate.