[Tongue temperature of healthy persons and patients with yin deficiency by using thermal video].

The normal tongue originated from medical workers in our hospital and the Yin deficiency tongue originated from patients who possessed typical phenomena of Yin deficiency including smothery fever, dry mouth and so on. Determination of different area's temperature on tongue surface showed that the immediate temperature on areas of the tip, edge and medium of tongues and the delay temperature on areas of the tip, edge of tongues in patients with Yin deficiency was higher than that in healthy persons and possessed statistical significance. The tongue color in patients with Yin deficiency, the higher the tongue temperature obtained. This suggested that the degree of Yin deficiency relates to the tongue temperature. Lingual diagnosis is an essential component of treatment according to differential diagnosis in TCM. The authors consider that the determination of the tongue temperature by using thermal video will be helpful to raise the accuracy of TCM diagnosis and to appraise the real effect of Chinese herbs on patients with Yin deficiency.