Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41695159›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in medicine2026

Traditional Chinese medicine-based visual assessment of tongue features associated with current cancer vs. no cancer history: a matched case-control study.

Maria Benxia Wu, Stella Stylianou, Yong-Kang Wu, Benjamin Kimble, Brian May, Vincent Chan, Meng-Hua Chen, Suzi Mansu, Lin Dong, Byeongsang Oh and 2 more

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PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Maria Benxia WuSchool of Health and Biomedical Sciences, STEM College, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia.
Stella StylianouSchool of Science, STEM College, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Yong-Kang WuSchool of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Benjamin KimbleSchool of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Brian MaySchool of Health and Biomedical Sciences, STEM College, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia.
Vincent ChanSchool of Health and Biomedical Sciences, STEM College, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia.
Meng-Hua ChenAussway Chinese Medicine Centre, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Suzi MansuSchool of Health and Biomedical Sciences, STEM College, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia.
Lin DongSchool of Health and Biomedical Sciences, STEM College, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia.
Byeongsang OhSydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Daniel Man-Yuen SzeBaptist Mission Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Zhen ZhengSchool of Health and Biomedical Sciences, STEM College, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Cancer survivorship is increasing, and many people living with and beyond cancer seek supportive care such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), where tongue inspection is routinely used. This exploratory study examined whether visually assessed tongue features differ between cancer survivors and those without a self-reported history of cancer. Methods: Matched case-control ( Results: Six features were found to be associated with cancer presence with an FDR of Conclusion: Selected tongue features, particularly spider sublingual veins and tooth marks, were associated with current cancer in exploratory analyses. However, discrimination was modest, and inter-rater reliability varied across features. These findings should be interpreted cautiously and do not support diagnostic utility. Standardized definitions, rater training, and external validation in larger prospective, multi-center cohorts are required before clinical translation.

Indexed as

cancer survivorshipcase-control studysublingual veinstongue imagetongue inspectiontraditional Chinese medicine

Identifiers

PMID41695159
PMCPMC12900746

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.