Exploring associated rules of Danggui in traditional Chinese medicine through text mining

Abstract

Single Chinese herbal medicine is the basic element in traditional Chinese medicine's clinical treatment against disease. Then, it is an interesting and meaningful task to acquire knowledge of a single Chinese herbal medicine within the framework of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In this paper, based on the knowledge of TCM, we explored the association rules of Danggui (Angelica sinensis in Latin). These associated rules include Danggui-TCM syndrome/pattern, Danggui-disease, Danggui-symptom, Danggui-TCM herbal formula, and Danggui-Chinese herbal medicines. Through text mining, these rules can be demonstrated in different networks. These associated networks represent a variety of knowledge points and most of them can be validated in textbooks of traditional Chinese medicines. Thus, these results might be useful for both clinical practice and medical research, and the approach provides a novel way in exploring associated rules of single Chinese herbal medicine within the framework of traditional Chinese medicine.