title: Proposal for a new noncontact method for measuring tongue moisture to assist in tongue diagnosis and development of the tongue image analyzing system, which can separately record the gloss components of the tongue.
abstract: Tongue diagnosis is a noninvasive diagnosis and is traditionally one of the most important tools for physicians who practice Kampo (traditional Japanese) medicine. However, it is a subjective process, and its results can depend on the experience of the physician performing it. Previous studies have reported how to measure and evaluate the shape and color of the tongue objectively. Therefore, this study focused on the glossy component in order to quantify tongue moisture in tongue diagnosis. We hypothesized that moisture appears as a gloss in captured images and measured the amount of water on the tongue surface in 13 subjects. The results showed a high correlation between the degree of gloss and the amount of water on the tongue surface and suggested that the moisture on the tongue can be estimated by the degree of gloss in a captured image. Because the moisture level on the tongue changes during the course of taking photos, it became clear that we had to wait at least 3 minutes between photos. Based on these results, we established the tongue image analyzing system (TIAS), which can consistently record the gloss and color of the tongue surface simultaneously.
authors.affiliation: Center for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8348-6178
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakaguchi
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
authors.forename: Kanako
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Advanced Integration Science, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Japanese-Oriental (Kampo) Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0079-0482
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oji
authors.affiliation: Akiba Clinic of Traditional Medicine, Ni-2086 Hasunuma, Sanmu-shi, Chiba 289-1805, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3342-7655
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Advanced Integration Science, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
authors.forename: Norimichi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsumura
authors.affiliation: Department of Japanese-Oriental (Kampo) Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Keigo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.affiliation: Department of Japanese-Oriental (Kampo) Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagamine
authors.affiliation: Department of Japanese-Oriental (Kampo) Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan.
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Namiki
authors.affiliation: Center for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University, 1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyake
mesh_terms: D003116:Color; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020835:Medicine, Kampo / Q000379:methods*; D014059:Tongue / Q000473:pathology*