P02.79. Study on the basic tongue diagnosis indicators for pattern identifications in stroke using a decision tree method

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to select the major tongue diagnosis indicators and evaluate their significance in discriminating the subtypes of Pattern Identification (PI) from stroke patients.

Methods

Decision tree analysis was carried out using clinical data collected from 1502 stroke patients with same subtypes diagnosed identically by two experts with more than 3 years of clinical experience. Among 9 tongue indicators, 6 major tongue indicators (red tongue, pale tongue, yellow fur, white fur, thick fur, teeth-marked tongue) were selected by decision tree analysis. Each PI has a specific combination of tongue indicators which related 6 major tongue indicators.

Results

It is suggested that 6 tongue indicators can be used for discrimination of PI in stroke patients, though the combination studies between these tongue indicators and the other PI indicators are left for further study.

Conclusion

We could conclude that tongue diagnosis can play a significant role in a differential diagnosis of PI. Namely it can increase the accuracy of diagnosis and simplify the complex process of PI to check important tongue indicators. It is necessary to re-evaluate other indicators in PI by proper ways, and this study is helpful to objectify and be scientific in traditional Korean medicine.