Visual Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine                         Health                     Records

Hu, Xiaoxuan; Peng, Shuanghe; Hou, Huilian; Yang, Ning; Lyu, Yongjie; Zhou, Liang

doi:10.3724/sp.j.1089.2021.19259

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…Visualization based on a 3D human model of Chinese medicine pulses could facilitate the teaching, understanding, and communication of meridians and acupoints [ 19 ]. A visual analysis method for TCM health records has recently become available as a collaboration between TCM and visualization experts [ 20 ]. This method supports the analysis of time-varying TCM health records and compares medicines in the formulas of different patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visualization of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulas: Development and Usability Study

Wu¹,

Peng²,

Zhou³

2023

JMIR Form Res

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Background Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas are combinations of Chinese herbal medicines. Knowledge of classic medicine formulas is the basis of TCM diagnosis and treatment and is the core of TCM inheritance. The large number and flexibility of medicine formulas make memorization difficult, and understanding their composition rules is even more difficult. The multifaceted and multidimensional properties of herbal medicines are important for understanding the formula; however, these are usually separated from the formula information. Furthermore, these data are presented as text and cannot be analyzed jointly and interactively. Objective We aimed to devise a visualization method for TCM formulas that shows the composition of medicine formulas and the multidimensional properties of herbal medicines involved and supports the comparison of medicine formulas. Methods A TCM formula visualization method with multiple linked views is proposed and implemented as a web-based tool after close collaboration between visualization and TCM experts. The composition of medicine formulas is visualized in a formula view with a similarity-based layout supporting the comparison of compositing herbs; a shared herb view complements the formula view by showing all overlaps of pair-wise formulas; and a dimensionality-reduction plot of herbs enables the visualization of multidimensional herb properties. The usefulness of the tool was evaluated through a usability study with TCM experts. Results Our method was applied to 2 typical categories of medicine formulas, namely tonic formulas and heat-clearing formulas, which contain 20 and 26 formulas composed of 58 and 73 herbal medicines, respectively. Each herbal medicine has a 23-dimensional characterizing attribute. In the usability study, TCM experts explored the 2 data sets with our web-based tool and quickly gained insight into formulas and herbs of interest, as well as the overall features of the formula groups that are difficult to identify with the traditional text-based method. Moreover, feedback from the experts indicated the usefulness of the proposed method. Conclusions Our TCM formula visualization method is able to visualize and compare complex medicine formulas and the multidimensional attributes of herbal medicines using a web-based tool. TCM experts gained insights into 2 typical medicine formula categories using our method. Overall, the new method is a promising first step toward new TCM formula education and analysis methodologies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visualization of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulas: Development and Usability Study

Wu¹,

Peng²,

Zhou³

2023

JMIR Form Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Visualization of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulas: Development and Usability Study (Preprint)

Wu¹,

Peng²,

Zhou³

2022

Preprint

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BACKGROUND Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas are combinations of Chinese herbal medicines. Knowledge of classic medicine formulas is the basis of TCM diagnosis and treatment and is the core of TCM inheritance. The large number and the flexibility of medicine formulas make memorization difficult and understanding their composition rules is even more difficult. The multifaceted and multidimensional properties of herbal medicines are important for formula understanding, but these are usually separated from the formula information. Furthermore, these data are presented as texts and cannot be analyzed jointly and interactively. OBJECTIVE This work aims to devise a visualization method for TCM formulas that shows the composition of medicine formulas and the multidimensional properties of herbal medicines involved, and supports the comparison of medicine formulas. METHODS A TCM formulas visualization method with multiple linked views is proposed and implemented as a web-based tool after a close collaboration between visualization and TCM experts. The composition of medicine formulas is visualized in a formula view with a similarity-based layout supporting the comparison of compositing medicines; a shared medicine view complements the formula view by showing all overlaps of pair-wise formulas; a dimensionality reduction plot of medicines enables the visualization of multidimensional medicine properties. Medicines are color-encoded with a perceptual-guided color map that encodes multidimensional TCM attributes and the similarity measure at the same time. The color map is calculated by a data-driven interpolation scheme. With simple interactions, users could flexibly select medicines or formulas of interest, and the corresponding elements in other views are highlighted through brushing and linking. RESULTS Our method is applied to two typical categories of medicine formulas, namely, tonic formulas and heat-clearing formulas, which contain 20 and 26 formulas composed of 58 and 73 herbal medicines, respectively. Each herbal medicine has a 23-dimensional characterizing attribute. TCM experts explored the two datasets with our web-based tool and quickly gained insight into formulas and medicines of interest as well as the overall features of the formula groups that are difficult to identify with the traditional text-based method. Moreover, feedback from the experts indicates the usefulness of our method. CONCLUSIONS Our TCM formulas visualization method is able to visualize and compare complex medicine formulas and the multidimensional attributes of herbal medicines involved with an interactive web-based tool. Insights are gained into two typical medicine formula categories by TCM experts using our method. Overall, the new method is a promising first step to new TCM formulas education and analysis methodologies.

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Visual Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Records

Cited by 2 publications

References 16 publications

Visualization of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulas: Development and Usability Study

Visualization of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulas: Development and Usability Study

Visualization of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulas: Development and Usability Study (Preprint)

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