Exploring Rules of Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine Used in the Treatment of Osteoporosis by Text Mining
利用文本挖掘技术探索中西医治疗骨质疏松症的用药规律

This study was aimed to explore rules of Chinese patent medicine, western medicine, together with their combination rules used in the treatment of osteoporosis by text mining. Data on osteoporosis was queried and downloaded from SinoMed on March, 2011. After transferring semi-structured data into Microsoft SQL Server , the algorithm of data slicing based on frequency analysis was applied. Some simple and meaningful networks were achieved. Data of these networks were imported into Cytoscape and visualized. The results showed that in the treatment of osteoporosis, Chinese patent medicine, such as Zuogui pills, Liuwei Dihuang pills, Gusongbao granules, Yougui pills, and Shengu capsule, are widely used in the clinical practice. Chinese herbal medicine, such as Herba Epimedii, Radix Rehmannia, Radix Astragali, Rhizoma Drynariae, Salvia Miltiorrhiza, Fructus Psoraleae, Radix Puerariae, Radix Angelica, and Cortex Eucommiae, are frequently shown in articles on osteoporosis. Herba Epimedii and Radix Rehmannia are major herbal medicine and most frequently used in the herbal combination. The most important treatment method of osteoporosis is to strengthen the kidney and spleen together with activate and nourish blood. Among all western medicine, estrogen agents, Vitamin D, calcium, and thyrocalcitonin are most frequently used in the treatment of osteoporosis. In this paper, rules of Chinese patent medicine and western medicine used in the treatment of osteoporosis were concluded. The combination between Chinese patent medicine and western medicine was also calculated for the clinical application and basic research reference.