Promoting integrative medicine by computerization of traditional Chinese medicine for scientific research and clinical practice: The SuiteTCM Project

作     者：Arthur de Sá Ferreira 

作者机构：Laboratory of Computational Simulation and Modeling in Rehabilitation Post-graduation Program of Rehabilitation Science Augusto Motta University Center 

出 版 物：《Journal of Integrative Medicine》 (结合医学学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2013年第11卷第2期

页      面：135-139页

学科分类：1006[医学-中西医结合] 100602[医学-中西医结合临床] 10[医学] 

基　　金：supported by a grant (n°E-26/103.066/2012)from the Fundao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa no Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) 

主　　题：traditional Chinese medicine evidence-based practice computer-assisted decision making 

摘      要：BACKGROUND： Chinese and contemporary Western medical practices evolved on different cultures and historical contexts and, therefore, their medical knowledge represents this cultural divergence. Computerization of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） is being used to promote the integrative medicine to manage, process and integrate the knowledge related to TCM anatomy, physiology, semiology, pathophysiology, and therapy. METHODS： We proposed the development of the SuiteTCM software, a collection of integrated computational models mainly derived from epidemiology and statistical sciences for computerization of Chinese medicine scientific research and clinical practice in all levels of prevention. The software includes components for data management （DataTCM）, simulation of cases （SimTCM）, analyses and validation of datasets （SciTCM）, clinical examination and pattern differentiation （DiagTCM, TongueTCM, and PulseTCM）, intervention selection （AcuTCM, HerbsTCM, and DietTCM）, management of medical records （ProntTCM）, epidemiologic investigation of sampled data （ResearchTCM）, and medical education, training, and assessment （StudentTCM）. DISCUSSION： The SuiteTCM project is expected to contribute to the ongoing development of integrative medicine and the applicability of TCM in worldwide scientific research and health care. The SuiteTCM 1.0 runs on Windows XP or later and is freely available for download as an executable application.