The Characteristics of Tongue Inspection and Relationship between Tongue Inspection and Differenitiation of Syndrome

중풍초기환자의 설상(舌象) 분포와 변증의 유용성에 관한 임상고찰

To assess the usefulness of tongue inspection for evaluating the Pattern identification in oriental medicine, we observed stroke patient's tongue and tongue coat and compared it with Pattern identification. The test group was composed of 85 acute stroke stage patients(within 72 hours of onset). Subjects were randomly selected from stroke patients admitted in the KyungHee University, Hospital of Oriental Medicine from December 1 1998 to June 30 1999. We took pictures of patient's tongue and tongue coat within 72hours from onset and checked Pattern identification at the same time. Tongues colored pale rose or red greatly outnumbered other colors. Tongue shape tended to be prickly or fissured, and tongue condition tended to be unflexible or deviated. Regarding tongue coat color, there were great amounts of yellow or clark yellow tongue coats, which were moist, thick or greasy in substance. The red tongue was significantly related to Fire-heat and deficiency of Yin syndrome, while faint white tongue to Damp syndrome(P=0.006). In terms of tongue coat, thin coat was related to Wind and Fire-heat syndromes, thick coat to Damp and Blood stasis syndrome, respectively (P=0.002). In conclusion, we thought that tongue inspection could be a useful Oriental medicine diagnosis in stroke.