Tongue diagnosis based on hue-saturation value color space: controlled study of tongue appearance in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention for coronary heart disease

Objective

To analyze the characteristics of tongue imaging color parameters in patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and non-PCI for coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CHD), and to observe the effects of PCI on the tongue images of patients as a basis for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with CHD.

Methods

This study used a retrospective cross-sectional survey to analyze tongue photographs and medical history information from 204 patients with CHD between November 2018 and July 2020. Tongue images of each subject were obtained using the Z-BOX Series traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) intelligent diagnosis instruments, the SMX System 2.0 was used to transform the image data into parameters in the HSV color space, and finally the parameters of the tongue image between patients in the PCI-treated and non-PCI-treated groups for CHD were analyzed.

Results

Among the 204 patients, 112 were in the non-PCI treatment group (38 men and 74 women; average age of (68.76 ± 9.49) years), 92 were in the PCI treatment group (66 men and 26 women; average age of (66.02 ± 10.22) years). In the PCI treatment group, the H values of the middle and tip of the tongue and the overall coating of the tongue were lower (P < 0.05), while the V values of the middle, tip, both sides of the tongue, the whole tongue and the overall coating of the tongue were higher (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

The color parameters of the tongue image could reflect the physical state of patients treated with PCI, which may provide a basis for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of patients with CHD.