Application of hyperspectral imaging technology to objective diagnosis of TCM syndrome

Hyperspectral imaging technology is expected as a breakthrough to resolve the lack of objective indicators on the diagnosis of TCM syndrome because of its high sensitivity and including abundant information of the images and spectra. In view of fuzzy and complicated mappings between tongue and syndrome, aiming at the defects of the acquisition methods of tongue information and its processing mode which extracts the features by fragmenting the integrative information, a new idea is proposed that the specific spectral indices pool be extracted after acquiring the hyperspectral data cube of tongue by hyperspectral imaging technology and associating it as a whole because of the overlapping mixing of these characteristic information with syndrome in black-box mode by means of intergration of various linear and nonlinear data mining algorithms. The mechanisms of etiological factor and pathogenesis are analyzed from all angles by synthesis of specific spectral indices pool, clinical physiological and biochemical indicators and TCM indicators. Then a new mode of objective diagnosis for syndromes can be found.