- P-ISSN 1010-0695
- E-ISSN 2288-3339
Tongue diagnosis is an important diagnostic method in tradition al Oriental medicine. It has been especially accepted that quantitative analysis of tong ue images allows the accurate diagnosis of the exterior-interior and cold-heat patte rns of a patient. However, to ensure stable and reliable results, the color reproduction o f such images must first be error-free. Moreover, tongue diagnosis is much influenced by the surrounding ilumination and subjective color recognition, so it has to be performed objectively and quantitatively using a digital diagnostic machine. In this stud y, 457 tongue images of outpatients were collected using the Digital Tongue Inspection System. Through statistical analysis, the result shows that the heat and cold p atterns can be distinguished clearly based on the hue value of the tongue images. The averag e hue value (1.00) of the tongue’s image in the cold p attern is higher than that in t he heat pattern (0.99).