Image: A researcher demonstrates how a camera captures images of the tongue and analyzes it for disease. Image Credit: Middle Technical University.
Tongue diagnostic systems are gaining traction due to an increase in remote health monitoring worldwide, this study provides more evidence of the increasing accuracy of this technology in detecting a range of diseases.
Combining the old with the new
Researchers and engineers from Australia and Baghdad have developed an innovative AI system that can diagnose diseases by analyzing tongue scans with a reported 97% accuracy. This system uses machine learning algorithms to examine the color, texture, and coating of the tongue, which can reveal various health conditions. It’s a modern twist on traditional Chinese medicine practices, bringing ancient techniques into the 21st century.
Previous studies using tongue diagnostic systems have accurately diagnosed appendicitis, diabetes, and thyroid disease. Prior work from this team published in AIP Conference Proceedings reviewed the Worldwide advances in computer-aided disease diagnosis, based on tongue color. Comparing color with a database of 9,000 tongue images they concluded that “It is possible to diagnose with 80% accuracy more than 10 diseases that cause a visible change in tongue colour. In our study, we achieved a 94% accuracy with three diseases, so the potential is there to fine-tune this research even further,” Assoc Prof Al-Naji says.
Stick out your tongue and say ah
Building off prior research, this breakthrough diagnostic imaging system is suggested to be able to diagnose stroke, anemia, diabetes, asthma, live and gallbladder conditions, and a range of vascular and gastrointestinal issues. The paper published in Technologies describes how the system analyzes tongue color to provide the spot-on diagnosis, leveraging traditional practices with modern big-data analysis and machine-learning techniques that could revolutionize how we detect illness.
The team from Middle Technical University (MTU) and the University of South Australia (UniSA) achieved this breakthrough in a series of experiments where they used 5,260 images to train machine learning algorithms to detect tongue color. 2 teaching hospitals supplied 60 tongue images from patients with various health conditions. The artificial intelligence (AI) model was able to match the tongue color with the disease in almost all cases.
The tongue mirrors your health
While your eyes may be the window to your soul, the tongue mirrors your health. Senior author, MTU and UniSA Adjunct Associate Professor Ali Al-Naji, says that AI in this approach is replicating a 2,000-year-old practice widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, examining the tongue for signs of disease. Examining the tongue for signs of disease is once more being embraced, this time with the help of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI).
“The color, shape and thickness of the tongue can reveal a litany of health conditions,” says Al-Naji. “Typically, people with diabetes have a yellow tongue; cancer patients a purple tongue with a thick greasy coating; and acute stroke patients present with an unusually shaped red tongue. A white tongue can indicate anemia; people with severe cases of COVID-19 are likely to have a deep red tongue; and an indigo or violet colored tongue indicates vascular and gastrointestinal issues or asthma.”
Disease screening
To scan the tongues in this study, cameras that were placed 20 centimeters from a patient captured their tongue color and the imaging system predicted their health condition in real-time. However, in the future, co-author UniSA Professor Javaan Chahl suggests that a smartphone could be used to diagnose diseases in this way.
“These results confirm that computerized tongue analysis is a secure, efficient, user-friendly and affordable method for disease screening that backs up modern methods with a centuries-old practice,” Prof Chahl says.
It is worth mentioning that the researchers did note that this system was not meant to replace professional diagnosis, rather it was meant to complement existing practices for early disease detection and monitoring.
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Image: A researcher demonstrates how a camera captures images of the tongue and analyzes it for disease. Image Credit: Middle Technical University.
