Takeshi Oji

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

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.

Study of Factors Involved in Tongue Color Diagnosis by Kampo Medical Practitioners Using the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test and Tongue Color Images

In traditional Japanese medicine (Kampo medicine), tongue color is important in discerning a patients constitution and medical conditions. However, tongue color diagnosis is susceptible to the subjective factors of the observer. To investigate factors involved in tongue color diagnosis, both color discrimination and tongue color diagnosis were researched in 68 Kampo medical practitioners. Color discrimination was studied by the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue test, and tongue color diagnosis was studied by 84 tongue images. We found that overall color discrimination worsened with aging. However, the color discrimination related to tongue color regions was maintained in subjects with 10 or more years of Kampo experience. On the other hand, tongue color diagnosis significantly differed between subjects with <10 years of experience and ≥10 years of experience. Practitioners with ≥10 years of experience could maintain a consistent diagnosis of tongue color regardless of their age.

A method for estimating visceral fat from the elasticity of lumbar subcutaneous fat

Since metabolic syndrome is a cause of lifestyle-related diseases, and its early diagnosis and an evaluation of visceral fat are important, this study proposes a new method of estimating the amount of fat. The goal of this study is to estimate visceral fat from estimation of subcutaneous fat and total fat. The subcutaneous fat is estimated from the elasticity of the lumbar area, and the total fat is estimated from body information such as the abdominal vertical and lateral width, and body weight. Finally, the estimated subcutaneous fat is subtracted from the estimated total fat to calculate the visceral fat. Measurement tests conducted to verify the constructed visceral fat estimation model showed good results, with a correlation of 0.96 between the visceral fat area estimated by the proposed method and the actual measured area. The reproducibility of the estimation model was also verified by the cross validation method.

A study of tongue angle detection method for tongue diagnosis support in Kampo medicine

In tongue diagnosis support system using tongue images, a tongue angle to a camera is significantly important for diagnosis. We devise methods to estimate tongue angle to a camera, and examine these methods for considering the best method to add our system.