Study on Medication Patterns of Chinese Patent Medicine among 195 Breast Hyperplasia Cases / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

ABSTRACT

This study was aimed to reveal the medication patterns of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of breast hyperplasia based on association rules and clustering of data mining technology. Articles on Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of breast hyperplasia were retrieved from databases. External formulas or those mixed with western drugs were excluded. Terminologies in the selected formulas were standardized. Information was extracted to build excelltables. Association rules analysis and cluster analysis were used to reveal the medication patterns of Chi-nese patent medicine in the treatment of breast hyperplasia with software R2.15.2 and Cytoscape 2.8.3. The results showed that Chinese medicinals with higher frequency in 195 formulas were Radix bupleuri, Rhizoma cyperi, Chinese Angelica, Selfheal, White Peony Root, Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim et al. Chinese medicinals with lower frequency were Chinese Alangium leaf, Rhinacanthus nasutus et al. The commonly used herbal pairs were Radix bupleuri -Chinese A ngelica, Rhizoma curcumae - Rhizoma sparganii, frankincense - myrrh et al. The strong association rules indicated that Xiaoyaosan, which takes Radix bupleuri and Chinese A ngelica as its core, is the key character of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of breast hyperplasia. The cluster analysis revealed several Chinese medicine functional modules, such as Fructus forsythiae - Rhizoma smilacis glabrae - Evodia lepta - Chinese mahonia stem - Lignum millettiae et al. It was concluded that the herbal frequency, herbal pairs, strong associa-tion rules and cluster analysis can reveal the medication patterns of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of breast hyperplasia in order to provide reference evidences in the optimization of clinical treatment for mula and im-provement of therapeutic efficacy.