Research on the compatibility principle of mutual-assistant drug pairs of traditional Chinese medicine based on association rules

Objective To investigate the compatibility principle of mutual-assistant drug pairs.Methods The drug pairs of mutual-assistant were collected from Compendium of Material Medica,which were used for building database based on the ACCESS platform.Then we carried out the analysis of the regularity of the mutual-assistant drug pairs by the association rules of Enterprise Miner.Results The frequently-used drug pairs of mutual-assistant were:"warm,pungent,spleen"-"warm,pungent,liver"; "warm,pungent,stomach"-"warm,pungent,spleen"; "cold,bitter,liver"-"cold,bitter,lung"; "warm,pungent,spleen,stomach"-and "warm,pungent,liver,pungent".Conclusion From this study,we concluded that the compatibility of mutual-assistant can reinforce the effects of traditional Chinese medicine on some extent. Key words: Seven aspects in prescription compatibility;  Mutual-assistance;  Data mining;  Nature of traditional Chinese medicine