Progress of studies on traditional chinese medicine based on complex network analysis

• Main Authors: Qian-Ru Zhang, Xiang-Jun Kong, Hai-Yu Xu, Yi-Tao Wang, Yuan-Jia Hu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2017-01-01
• Series: World Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine
• Subjects: Complex network analysis; formula; mechanism; syndrome; traditional Chinese medicine
• Online Access: http://www.wjtcm.net/article.asp?issn=2311-8571;year=2017;volume=3;issue=3;spage=28;epage=37;aulast=Zhang

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a distinct medical system that deals with the life–health–disease–environment relationship using holistic, dynamic, and dialectical thinking. However, reductionism has often restricted the conventional studies on TCM, and these studies did not investigate the central concepts of TCM theory about the multiple relationships among life, health, disease, and environment. Complex network analysis describes a wide variety of complex systems in the real world, and it has the potential to bridge the gap between TCM and modern science owing to the holism of TCM theory. This article summarizes the current research involving TCM network analysis and highlights the computational tools and analysis methods involved in this research. Finally, to inspire a new approach, the article discussed the potential problems underlying the application of TCM network analysis.