Objective To study the relationship between sublingual collaterals signs and coronary atherosclerosis of coronary heart disease（CHD）patients.Methods Eighty CHD patients were involved.Their tongue images were collected.Their sublingual collaterals signs were observed and described by grade from length

diameter

tortuosity and color.These data were compared with 77 healthy volunteers’.According to coronary CT or coronary angiography results

diseases of CHD patients were divided into single-vessel

double-vessel and multi-vessel.The correlation between coronary lesion vessels and sublingual collaterals signs was analyzed.Results Compared with 77 healthy volunteers

the difference of sublingual collaterals’ length

diameter

tortuosity and color of CHD patients was significant（P < 0.01）.Sublingual collaterals of CHD patients were long

thick

dark purple and tortuous.There was obvious correlation between different coronary lesion vessels and sublingual collaterals in length

tortuosity and color（P <0.001）.The more coronary lesion vessels

the longer

deeper color and more tortuous the sublingual collaterals were.No obvious correlation showed between different coronary lesion vessels and sublingual collaterals in diameter（P >0.05）.Conclusion Sublingual collaterals’ length

diameter

color and tortuosity of CHD patients were different from those of healthy people.There was correlation between coronary lesion vessels and sublingual collaterals in length

color and tortuosity.