Differences in the Tongue Features of Primary Dysmenorrhea Patients and Controls over a Normal Menstrual Cycle

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, May 2017

Background. The aims of this study were to investigate the relationships between tongue features and the existence of menstrual pain and to provide basic information regarding the changes in tongue features during a menstrual cycle. Methods. This study was conducted at the Kyung Hee University Medical Center. Forty-eight eligible participants aged 20 to 29 years were enrolled and assigned to two groups according to their visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. Group A included 24 females suffering from primary dysmenorrhea (PD) caused by qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome with VAS ≥ 4. In contrast, Group B included 24 females with few premenstrual symptoms and VAS < 4. All participants completed four visits (menses-follicular-luteal-menses phases), and the tongue images were taken by using a computerized tongue image analysis system (CTIS). Results. The results revealed that the tongue coating color value and the tongue coating thickness in the PD group during the menstrual phase were significantly lower than those of the control group ( and , resp.). Conclusions. These results suggest that the tongue features obtained from the CTIS may serve as a supplementary means for the differentiation of syndromes and the evaluation of therapeutic effect and prognosis in PD. Trial Registration. This trial was registered with Clinical Research Information Service, registration number KCT0001604, registered on 27 August 2015.

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Differences in the Tongue Features of Primary Dysmenorrhea Patients and Controls over a Normal Menstrual Cycle

Differences in the Tongue Features of Primary Dysmenorrhea Patients and Controls over a Normal Menstrual Cycle Jihye Kim,1,2 Haebeom Lee,3 Hyunho Kim,4 Jong Yeol Kim,1 and Keun Ho Kim1 1KM Fundamental Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, 1672 Yuseongdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea 2Department of Biofunctional Medicine and Diagnosis, College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University, 83 Sangjidae-gil, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea 3Department of Human Informatics of Korean Medicine, Interdisciplinary Programs, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 4Department of Biofunctional Medicine & Diagnostics, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 26-6 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea Correspondence should be addressed to Keun Ho Kim; rk.er.moik@07mikr Received 14 February 2017; Accepted 24 April 2017; Published 31 May 2017 Academic Editor: Fabio Firenzuoli Copyright © 2017 Jihye Kim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background. The aims of this study were to investigate the relationships between tongue features and the existence of menstrual pain and to provide basic information regarding the changes in tongue features during a menstrual cycle. Methods. This study was conducted at the Kyung Hee University Medical Center. Forty-eight eligible participants aged 20 to 29 years were enrolled and assigned to two groups according to their visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. Group A included 24 females suffering from primary dysmenorrhea (PD) caused by qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome with VAS ≥ 4. In contrast, Group B included 24 females with few premenstrual symptoms and VAS < 4. All participants completed four visits (menses-follicular-luteal-menses phases), and the tongue images were taken by using a computerized tongue image analysis system (CTIS). Results. The results revealed that the tongue coating color value and the tongue coating thickness in the PD group during the menstrual phase were significantly lower than those of the control group ( and , resp.). Conclusions. These results suggest that the tongue features obtained from the CTIS may serve as a supplementary means for the differentiation of syndromes and the evaluation of therapeutic effect and prognosis in PD. Trial Registration. This trial was registered with Clinical Research Information Service, registration number KCT0001604, registered on 27 August 2015. 1. Introduction Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is a common gynecological disorder. Menstrual pain typically begins during or just prior to menses [1, 2]. The prevalence of PD is highest in adolescent girls and women of reproductive age, with estimates ranging from 20 to 90% [3]. In Korea, 78.3% of all adolescent girls have dysmenorrhea [4]. The most common treatments for PD are hormone therapy, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors, and oral contraceptive pills. However, these treatments have temporary effects and may cause unwanted menopausal symptoms, such as sweating, hot flashes, vaginal dryness, dyspareunia, breast reduction, and decreased sexual desire [5–8]. For the aforementioned reasons, PD patients turn to alternative therapies in many countries [9]. Traditional Korean medicine (TKM) is known to provide more satisfactory results for patients because it employs different targeted therapies for each patient. Korean medical doctors (KMDs) focus on the PD subtype, namely, the zheng or syndrome, for example, cold-dampness stagnation or qi stagnation and blood stasis syndrome [7, 10]. The syndrome guides the choice of treatment with acupuncture, moxibustion, or herbal medicine. Therefore, correct syndrome identification is the most important clinical process [2, 4, 8, 10]. Each syndrome is identified by KMDs based on the clinical information obtained through the four main diagnostic procedures in TKM: inspection (望), the listening/smelling examination (聞), inquiry (問), and palpation (切) [11]. Tongue diagnosis is one of the four diagnostic methods, which is a part of inspection. Changes in tongue features provide significant information for TKM diagnosis in clinical practice. According to TKM theory, the changes in the tongue body (color, shape, and movement) and tongue coating (color, thickness, moisture, and distribution) are crucial components of the tongue diagnostic method. The tongue features are used to diagnose imbalances in the essential components, such as qi, blood, yin, and yang, and to determine whether the patient has a heat or cold syndrome. Therefore, tongue features reveal the state of organ functions, the balance of qi and blood, the progression of health conditions, and illness severity [12, 13]. Physiological par (...truncated)


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Jihye Kim, Haebeom Lee, Hyunho Kim, Jong Yeol Kim, Keun Ho Kim. Differences in the Tongue Features of Primary Dysmenorrhea Patients and Controls over a Normal Menstrual Cycle, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2017, 2017, DOI: 10.1155/2017/6435702