Lin Dai-Ying, Huang Wei-Te, Lin Yu-Chuan, Hung Hao-Hsiu, Ou Shi-Chen, Chang Chin-Wei, Lin Hung-En, Lin Ting-Yen, Chang Ching-Wen, Hung Hui-Chun, Huang Sheng-Teng
Department of Chinese Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
School of Post-Baccalaureate Chinese Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Heliyon. 2023 Jun 2;9(6):e16612. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16612. eCollection 2023 Jun.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a therapeutic system which has been practiced for thousands of years. Although for much of its history the decoction of medicinal herbs was the most common method of consuming the herbal treatments, TCM prescriptions are now primarily prepared using concentrated Chinese herbal extracts (CCHE) in powder or granular form. However, determining the precise dose of each single Chinese herbal constituent within a prescription creates a challenge in clinical practice due to the potential risk of toxicity. To alleviate this, we invented the Chinese Intelligence Prescription System (CIPS) to calculate the exact dose of each single herb within an individual prescription.
In this study, we applied CIPS in a real-world setting to analyze clinical prescriptions collected and prepared at the TCM Pharmacy of China Medical University Hospital (CMUH).
Our investigation revealed that 3% of all prescriptions filled in a 1-month period contained inexact dosages, suggesting that more than 170,000 prescriptions filled in Taiwan in a given month may contain potentially toxic components. We further analyzed the data to determine the excess dosages and outline the possible associated side effects.
In conclusion, CIPS offers TCM practitioners the ability to prepare exact Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) prescriptions in order to avoid toxic effects, thereby ensuring patient safety.
传统中医（TCM）是一种已沿用数千年的治疗体系。尽管在其大部分历史中，草药汤剂是服用草药治疗的最常见方法，但现在中医处方主要是使用粉末或颗粒形式的浓缩中药提取物（CCHE）来配制。然而，由于存在潜在的毒性风险，在临床实践中确定处方中每种单一中药成分的精确剂量成为一项挑战。为缓解这一问题，我们发明了中医智能处方系统（CIPS）来计算个体处方中每种单一草药的精确剂量。
在本研究中，我们将CIPS应用于实际场景，以分析在中国医科大学附设医院（CMUH）中药房收集和配制的临床处方。
我们的调查显示，在1个月内所配的所有处方中有3%含有不精确剂量，这表明在台湾地区给定的一个月内所配的超过170,000张处方可能含有潜在的有毒成分。我们进一步分析数据以确定过量剂量并概述可能相关的副作用。
总之，CIPS为中医从业者提供了开具精确中药（CHM）处方的能力，以避免毒性作用，从而确保患者安全。
