Exploring the Rules of Chinese and Western Medicine Used in the Treatment of Osteoporosis by Text Mining

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