TONGUE FEATURE ANALYSIS OF 571 NPC PATIENTS

The tongue features of 571 cases of previously untreated cases of NPC and then changes following radiotherapy were reported. It showed that the tongue features of NPC cases before treatment had no disfinct difference from that of normal subjects, either in the shape, the texture or the coating of the tongues. In 358 cases of NPC patients in whom tongue features has been observed both before and after radiotherapy, the proportion of pink coloured tongue and red tongue decreased while the purplish tongue increased. It suggests that the appearance of DU-rplish tongue is the main characteristic sign following radiotherapy, which usually occurred stepwise-ly from pink tongue, to red tongue, then to dark red tongue, and finally to purplish tongue. Besides, data also showed the appearance of purplish tongue has an unfavorable prognostic significance.