44 Current researches on the SCM in Korea The Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM) and other domestic oriental medical colleges have been con- tinuously evaluating SCM for the past 10 years, and their efforts to develop objective constitution diagnosis meth- ods have received much attention (6). Recently, due to advances in information and communication technolo- gies, it has become possible to process large volumes of genetic data. However, the results of these researches have not been introduced to the international CAM aca- demic community. Therefore, the authors conducted this review of current researches regarding constitution diag- nosis methods to provide an understanding of SCM as well as to provide an outlook for the future of SCM. Methods Articles related to constitution diagnosis were searched with the keyword ‘Sasang’ in Pubmed and in the data- bases containing literature regarding oriental medicine written in Korean. In addition, all articles in the Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine (JSCM) were reviewed from the first issue in 1989 up to the latest article in 2008. And, by examining the abstract, methods and results of all articles found in keyword-matching search, specific researches, which cover the modernization of traditional constitution diagnosis methods based on clinical experiment, were strategized to be selected and evaluated. In Donguisusebowon, Lee Je-ma suggested the follow- ing methods to determine patients’ Sasang constitu- tions: physical appearance ( ), features and way of speaking ( ), temperament and talent ( ) and pathological syndromes and pharmacol- ogy ( ). So the selected ones were then reclassi- fied into following four categories based on those methods: body shape analysis, facial analysis, voice analysis and questionnaire. Search Results (i) In JSCM, 86 articles were finally selected from 730 articles, based on the authors’ analyses of the abstracts, methods and contents. These articles covered the modernization of traditional constitu- tion diagnosis methods that evaluate the body shape, face, voice and questionnaire. (ii) In Pubmed, 22 articles were found using ‘Sasang’ as the keyword. Out of the 22, one article that dealt with the development of constitution diagno- sis method was selected for this review. (iii) By another search in databases containing journals related to oriental medicine written in Korean, such as DBPIA (http://www.dbpia.co.kr), KISS (http:// kiss.kstudy.com) and KISTI (http://society.kisti. re.kr), 278 articles using ‘Sasang’ as a keyword Table 1. Selected researches from various databases Name of DB or Number of selected Number of searched Language Journal searched articles for review SCM articles JSCM Pubmed DBPIA KISS KISTI Total 86 1 6 5 29 127 730 22 69 72 137 1030 Korean English Korean Korean Korean were found. Then, 40 articles, which dealt with the development of constitution diagnosis methods, were extracted for this review. Final search results are summarized in Table 1. Results Body Shape Analysis Lee Je-ma (1837–1900) proclaimed that human beings could be classified into four constitutions, Taeyangin (TY type), Tae-eumin (TE type), Soyangin (SY type) and Soeumin (SE type), based on functional activity dif- ferences between the four viscera—lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys, which induce different shapes at four parts of the body. As a result, Taeyangins have a more developed ‘lung area’ and a less developed ‘liver area’, while Tae- eumins have a more developed ‘liver area’ and a less developed ‘lung area’. In addition, Soyangins have a more developed ‘spleen area’ and a less developed ‘kidney area’, while Soeumins have a more developed ‘kidney area’ and a less developed ‘spleen area’ (1). In body shape analysis for constitution diagnosis there are two primary methods used, body trunk measurement and body segment measurement (Table 2). These two methods deal with morphological differences in the trunk or body segments among constitutions. As for body trunk measurement, Huh et al. (7) sug- gested that trunk shape differed among individuals with different Sasang constitutions; therefore, SCM doctors could classify Sasang constitutions based on the lengths of five horizontal lines in the trunk derived from Lee Je-ma’s Four Area Theory. They reported that the accu- racy of constitution diagnosis using this method was 90% when conducted by highly skilled practitioners (8). However, this method had a weak point that the measured lengths of anterior trunk are not sufficient for checking the degree of development in the trunk. Therefore, some researchers have insisted that the eight circumferences of the trunk embody the four viscera area better than the five lengths of the anterior trunk (9,10). However, manual measuring methods cause inconve- nience to the patients, and various human errors like intra-observer and inter-observer discrepancy could