The Influence of Hemosialysis to the Face Color of Patients in End Stage Renal Disease

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a method of analysing the relation between the patient's face color and his(her) kidney disease using image processing technology. This method is based on the ocular inspection which is one of the most famous diagnosis methods used in the oriental medical system. The way of processing and analysing the face image, which is for visualization and objectification of the color difference, is included. The objects are selected from the patients who suffer the kidney disease and use the hemodialyzer. Their facial images and clinical data are collected. From these data, we propose a hypothesis that the color of the patient's face is changed according to the patient's kidney state. At the same time, we present two algorithms of extracting the specific part of face which can identify the state of the patient's kidney and tracing the history of the color's change. This proposed method is evaluated through the practical experiments and their analysis.