High Pitta Classification Using Finger Photoplethysmograph Based features:A Feasibility Study

Abstract

Ayurveda is the ancient Indian science of healing. Its primary diagnostic technique is through Nadi Parikshan i.e. pulse diagnosis. In an endeavour to revive this art, modern Instruments in the form of finger Photoplethysmography is employed by some researchers in their recent work. In a parallel study in this area, several features are extracted from the different fingers in a group of three subjects under consideration. As per Ayurveda the root cause of any disease is on account of imbalance of one or two of the three doshas namely Vata-Pitta- Kapha. It is also documented in at several places that Pitta naturally increases during the middle of life, the day, and the middle of digestion therefore the significant rise in the Pitta dosha is mainly in daytime i.e. in afternoon and after lunch. In light of this, several finger Photoplethysmographic waves were acquired from the subjects two hour before the lunch and within half an hour after the lunch. The features were analysed for the significant change on account of increased Pitta. This thesis work explores the statistically significant change in all the features so extracted and reports the features with a high feasibility to form the input vector for a high Pitta classifier.