• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.212-221
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• 1999

Tongue examination is the most unique and important diagnostic method of oriental medicine. It reveals patients condition and give some information about direction of therapy and background of disease as well as produces clue of duration of disease changing that grasps it from outside. The aims of this study show that results of tongue examination is related to somewhat special pattern. we study 27 patients(age of means: 63.01 years old, male: 14, female: 13) who come to Wonkwang University Oriental-Medicine Hospital at Chonju with diabetes mellitus or diabetes mellitus complications. Tongue colors of this study result in pale-red 8 cases, pale 6 cases, red 6 cases, crimson 5 cases, blue-green-purple 2 cases and tongue fur of this study result in white-fur 16 cases, yellow-fur 7 cases, black-fur 1 case, none-fur 3 cases. And the condition of tongue fur with grimy and thin result in thin-white-fur 12 cases, white-grimy-fur 4 cases, thin-yellow-fur 5 cases, grimy-yellow-fur 2 cases, black-fur 1 case. Means level of fasting glucose during 7 days was $223.24{\pm}32.l7mg/dl$ and postprandial 2hours was $286.37{\pm}24.54mg/dl$ There were no changes in tongue body and tongue color but changes occur in tongue fur with 9cases in this period. 5 cases of patient make a difference between FBS(fasting blood glucose) and postprandial blood glucose level more than l00mg/dl (2 cases of patient with thin-white-fur gradually turned to slight-yellow-fur. There were no changes in 2 cases of patient with crimson-none-fur and pale-white-fur. 1 case of patient with slimy-yellow-fur turned to black fur.) 11 cases of patient had lesser than $10\%$ hemoglobin $A_lC$ and tongue color of these patient were pale-red 5cases, pale 2 cases, red 2 cases, crimson 2 cases. 16 cases of patient had more than $10\%$ Hemoglobin $A_1C$ and tongue color of these patients were pale-red 3 cases, pale 4 cases, red 4 cases, crimson 3 cases, blue 2 cases. This result shows that quantity of Hemoglobin $A_1C$ make a somewhat role in tongue color. The above results show that tongue color, fur color, condition and change of fur in diabetes mellitus patients is various in pale-red, pale, crimson, none-fur. So it is difficult to give an exact diagnosis on pathology of diabetes mellitus only with tongue examination because there are a little matches between blood glucose level, prevalence-period, short-term blood glucose regulation and tongue and fur colors.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.421-426
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• 2006

Objective To learn if there were different characteristics of tongue demonstration between diseases caused by exogenous pathogenic factor and disorder of internal organs. Methods Choosing 3059 cases from 51 medical records of Qing Dynasty, in which 1397 cases were diagnosed as diseases caused by exogenous pathogenic factor and 1110 were disorder of internal organs. Contrasting the constituent ratio of tongue demonstration using chi-square test. Results There were significant deviation between diseases caused by exogenous pathogenic factor and disorder of internal organs in color of tongue, color of fur and quality of fur (p<0.01). Conclusions the characteristics of tongue demonstration in diseases caused by exogenous pathogenic factor were high frequency of bright red tongue, yellow fur, blank fur and dry fur; and which in disorder of internal organs were high frequency of white tongue, thin fur, greasy fur and exfoliative fur.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.427-431
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• 2006

From 51 monographs of case record in Qing Dynasty, we chose 29 monographs in which tongue diagnosis applied to Warm disease. Then extracted all the case records and got 488 cases from them. In according to the classification of tongue diagnosis in teaching material of TCM diagnosis of higher TCM schools education, we had a statistic analysis on the 488 cases. Results show that the recording rate of tongue coating was highest, 65.16%. From high to low sequentially, the frequency of different fur was yellow fur, white fur and black fur. During $1850{\sim}1911$ of Qing Dynasty, the description of tongue coating changed that the proportion of white fur, yellow fur and compound fur was increased. On the contrary, the proportion of black fur was decreased. The recording rate of the color of tongue was 23.16%, in which the rate of red tongue and crimson tongue were higher. The recording rate of fur character was 37.7%. During $1850{\sim}1911$ of Qing Dynasty, the recording rate of greasy fur was increased to the first. The application of tongue diagnosis involves the warm-heat species of Warm Disease, damp-heat species of Warm Disease and pestilence.

• The Journal of the Society of Stroke on Korean Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2008

Objectives : We questioned whether the tongue diagnosis is effective for judging seriousness of cerebrovascular accidents. This study is about the relationship between tongue diagnosis and National Institute of Health Stroke Scale(NIHSS) in acute stroke patients. Methods : 738 subjects were recruited from the patients admitted to the department of internal medicine at Kyung-Hee University oriental medical center, Kyung-Hee University East-West Neo Medical Center, Kyungwon university Incheon oriental medical center, Kyungwon university Songpa oriental medical center and DongGuk university Ilsan oriental medical center from April 2007 to August 2008. We looked at the tongue as in three dimensions of tongue color, tongue fur color and tongue body. And, we calculated NIHSS means according to the subtypes of three dimensions. Results : 1. In the Tongue color, from the most commom to least common colors were pale red, red, pale, bluish purple, and ect. The NIHSS mean score of red is significantly higher than pale and pale red. 2. In the Tongue fur color, white fur was the most common, and then yellow fur, etc. There is no significant difference among three subtypes in the NIHSS mean score. 3. In the Tongue body, etc. is the most common, followed by teeth-marked tongue, enlarged tongue, blood patchy tongue, and mirror tongue. The NIHSS mean score of teeth-marked tongue is significantly lower than blood patchy tongue and mirror tongue. Conclusions : The tongue color and the tongue body are useful indexes for judging seriousness of cerebrovascular accidents presented by NIHSS. But in our study, the tongue fur color was not useful. Further study is necessary on the tongue fur.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.806-812
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• 2009

Objective : The aim of this study was to provide basic background information on stroke by evaluation various etiological factors on the basis that the Tongue fur color of acute stroke patients. Method : We studied patients hospitalized within 4 weeks after their ictus who were admitted at Kyunghee University Oriental Medical Center, Dongguk University Oriental Medical Center, Kyungwon University Songpa Oriental Medical Center, and Kyungwon University Incheon Oriental Medical Center from April 2008 to August 2009. We compared the general characteristics of acute stroke patients according to tongue fur color. Result : Tongue fur color showed significant difference for past history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, stroke, HDL-chol, BUN, Hg, and pulse pattern. Conclusion : The above results show that the overall tendency of acute stage cerebral infarction patients varies according to their tongue fur color. Further studies will be needed to better understand the difference between yellow fur group and white fur among acute stroke patients.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 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 Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2022

Objective: The purpose of this review is to analyze the clinical studies on tongue diagnosis in cancer patients. Methods: Domestic and foreign databases were used, such as Pubmed, google scholar, Wanfang med online, Scopus, and OASIS. Searching keywords were tongue diagnosis, tongue color, tongue fur, tongue inspection, cancer, tumor, neoplasm, carcinoma, etc. Studies on tongue diagnosis in cancer patients were included. The published year was limited from 2000 to June 2022. Results: Thirteen studies were enrolled. All selected studies were cross-sectional studies. Cancer patients tend to have a dark and blue-purple tongue, thick fur, yellow fur, fissure tongue, and red dots on the tongue compared with non-cancer patients. With the aggravation of cancer, the rate of patients having dark or blue, or purple tongues increased, and the patients' sublingual veins became wide and tortuous. Conclusion: This study suggests that cancer patients tend to have distinct features of tongue diagnosis. Further researches are warranted.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.118-126
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• 2007

Tongue diagnosis is a profound and special part of the whole Oriental Medicine. We examined the method, the principle and the meaning of tongue diagnosis according to a literature cited, considered a meaning of tongue diagnosis. As a result, we come to a conclusion like that. 1. Tongue is related with internal organs by meridian system, especially has a direct connection with heart and spleen. 2. The heart, a master of internal organs, has its specific opening in the tongue. The spleen, source of nutrients for growth and development, has its specific body opening in the mouth. So tongue reflects states of internal organs, Qi, blood, the constructive energy and the defensive energy. 3. When doing tongue diagnosis, we must pay attention to the position and the order of inspection of the tongue. We must diagnose by referring to a ray of light, diet, season, age, physical constitution, habit and taste, can make a accurate diagnosis. 4. We can classify constitutions, distinguish syndromes, suppose prognosis, make a prescription by using tongue diagnosis. 5. Reddened tip of the tongue represents flaring-up of the heart fire, and it means psychologic stress. Dental identations on the tongue edges represents deficiency of Qi of the spleen, and it means physiologic fatigue. 6. Through observing humidity of fur of the tongue, we can guess psychologic stress and physiologic fatigue. Through observing thickness of fur of the tongue, we can guess function of spleen and stomach.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.45-55
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• 2013

In this study, we propose a tongue diagnosis system which detects the tongue from face image and divides the tongue area into six areas, and finally generates tongue fur ratio of each area. To detect the tongue area from face image, we use ASM as one of the active shape models. Detected tongue area is divided into six areas and the distribution of tongue coating of six areas is examined by SVM. For SVM, we use a 3-dimensional vector calculated by PCA from a 12-dimensional vector consisting of RGB, HSV, Lab, and Luv. As a result, we stably detected the tongue area using ASM. Furthermore, we recognized that PCA and SVM helped to raise the ratio of tongue coating detection.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.569-577
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• 2010

Background & Objectives : Yellow fur on the tongue is known to be associated with prognosis of disease in oriental medicine. Higher ratios of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL) to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL) & total cholesterol (TC) to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL) are associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between cardiovascular disease index and yellow fur - oriental medical index - in stroke patients over 60 years old. Methods & Subjects : Among 802 of the recruited patients(434 male, 368 female), 340 were yellow fur group(209 male, 131 female). We assessed their general characteristics and risk factors. We compared the cardiovascular disease index between yellow fur and non-yellow fur groups by sex. Results : On the General Characteristics males have yellow fur more often than females. In cardiovascular disease index, the male yellow fur group showed higher ratios of TC/HDL(atherogenic index), (TC-HDL)/HDL, LDL/HDL and higher LDL and showed lower HDL than the non-yellow fur group. In female patients, there were no differences between the two groups about cardiovascular disease index. There were more patients diagnosed with Fire & Heat in the male yellow fur group, and Dampness & Phlegm in the male non-yellow fur group. The male yellow fur group eat fast food more than the non-yellow fur group. Conclusions : The results indicated that yellow fur may be associated with a high risk of cardiovascular disease. We can thus use yellow fur on the tongue as a cardiovascular disease index in male stroke patients over 60 years old.