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BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research article

The association between arterial stiffness and tongue manifestations of blood stasis in patients with type 2 diabetes

Authors: Po-Chi Hsu, Yu-Chuen Huang, John Y. Chiang, Hen-Hong Chang, Pei-Yung Liao, Lun-Chien Lo

Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

Background

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a hypercoagulable state and is associated with highly increased risk of vascular complications. In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), these vascular complications are classified as blood stasis. Diagnosis of the tongue plays an important role in TCM; a bluish tongue, petechiae, and engorged sublingual collateral vessels are manifestations of blood stasis. This study aimed to characterize the tongue manifestations of blood stasis and derive a relationship between blood stasis and vascular disorders in patients with type 2 DM.

Method

We conducted a cross-sectional study of 140 patients with type 2 DM, and compared demography, laboratory, physical examination, ankle brachial index(ABI), brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV), and tongue manifestation datas. An automatic tongue diagnosis system was used to capture tongue images and characterize clinical tongue manifestations.

Results

A bluish or petechiae tongue was assoicated with a significant decrease in high-density lipoprotein level, and bluish tongue was associated with significant increase in blood triglyceride in patients with type 2 DM. On assessing arterial stiffness, patients with a petechiae tongue had a higher ba-PWV for both sides (L:1938.41 ± 469.54 cm/sec v.s.1723.99 ± 302.16, p = 0.02; R:1937.28 ± 405.55 v.s.1741.99 ± 325.82, p = 0.03).

Conclusion

Blood stasis, particularly a tongue with petechiae, may be associated with arterial stiffness in patients with type 2 DM. Furthermore, tongue diagnosis could detect blood stasis relevant to DM and could serve as a feasible predictor for DM.
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Metadata
Title
The association between arterial stiffness and tongue manifestations of blood stasis in patients with type 2 diabetes
Authors
Po-Chi Hsu
Yu-Chuen Huang
John Y. Chiang
Hen-Hong Chang
Pei-Yung Liao
Lun-Chien Lo
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 2662-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-016-1308-5

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