Background. Endometriosis is a common but bothersome gynecological disease, and Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is used for\ntreating endometriosis. The aim of this study is to explore CHM network and core treatments for endometriosis by analyzing\nnationwide CHM prescription database. Methods. From 1998 to 2013, the CHM prescriptions made primarily for endometriosis\namong women diagnosed with endometriosis (ICD-9-CMcode: 671) by gynecologists during their reproductive age were collected.\nCHM network analysis was then carried out by using association rule mining and social network analysis. Results. A total of\n12,986 CHM prescriptions made for endometriosis were analyzed. There were 556 kinds of CHM ever used, and, in average,\neach prescription was composed of 6.2 CHMs. Gui-Zhi-Fu-Ling-Wan (GZFLW) was used most frequently, followed by Cyperus\nrotundus (28.1% and 18.8% of all prescriptions, resp.). Additionally, the combination of Cyperus rotundus with GZFLW(8.0%) was\nthe most frequently used combination of two CHMs. CHM network showed that GZFLW was the core CHM for endometriosis\nand graphically demonstrated the extensive coverage of TCM syndromes and pathogenesis of endometriosis. Conclusions. CHM\nnetwork provides graphical demonstration and summary of commonly used CHMs for endometriosis, and further studies are\nwarranted based on these findings.
Loading....