AI-Powered Tongue Analysis Diagnoses Diseases

With an impressive 98% accuracy, artificial intelligence (AI) accurately predicts various diseases based on the color of the human tongue.

Researchers from Australia and Iraq have collaborated to create an advanced imaging system that shows promising potential in diagnosing not only COVID-19 but also diabetes, asthma, anemia, stroke, liver and gallbladder disorders, as well as a diverse array of gastrointestinal and vascular problems().

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‘#Diabetes patients display a yellow tongue, #cancer patients exhibit a purple tongue with a thick, greasy layer, and #anemia presents as a white tongue. #medindia’

Tongue Coloration and Associated Diseases

A change in tongue color may indicate several diseases. The following are some examples of diseases and associated tongue coloration:

Yellow tongue - Diabetes
Purple tongue with thick greasy coating - Cancer
Unusually shaped red tongue - Acute stroke
White tongue - Anemia
Deep red tongue - severe COVID-19
Indigo or violet tongue - Vascular and gastrointestinal issues or asthma.

Engineering researchers from Middle Technical University (MTU) and the University of South Australia (UniSA) made the breakthrough in a series of experiments using 5260 images to train machine learning algorithms to detect tongue color.

Two teaching hospitals in the Middle East supplied 60 tongue images from patients with various health conditions. The artificial intelligence (AI) model matched the tongue color with the disease in almost all cases.

Learn What Your Tongue Says About Your General Health
The changes in the tongue's normal appearance are linked to the function of various vital organs, which provide clues about what is going on within our overall health.

Blending Traditional Method With AI

A new paper published in Technologies outlines how the proposed system analyses tongue color to provide on-the-spot diagnosis, confirming that AI holds the key to many medical advances.

Senior author, MTU and UniSA Adjunct Associate Professor Ali Al-Naji, says AI is replicating a 2000-year-old practice widely used in traditional Chinese medicine – examining the tongue for signs of disease.

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“The color, shape, and thickness of the tongue can reveal a litany of health conditions,” he says.

In the study, cameras placed 20 centimeters from a patient captured their tongue color and the imaging system predicted their health condition in real-time.

Tongue Microbes Window to Heart Health
Tongue bacteria can help identify people who are at a risk of heart failure, as tongue coating and tongue colour differ between chronic heart failure (CHF) patients and healthy individuals.

Co-author UniSA Professor Javaan Chahl says that down the track, a smartphone will be used to diagnose disease 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.

Reference:

Tongue Disease Prediction Based on Machine Learning Algorithms - ( https:doi.org/10.3390/technologies12070097)

Source-Eurekalert