title: Identification of Herb Pairs in Esophageal Cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is used widely to treat various diseases, including cancer. However, effective herb pairs for treating specific cancer types have so far not been identified. Here, we aimed to calculate the survival benefits of herb pairs by cluster analysis, association rules, and survival evaluation in patients with esophageal cancer (EC) treated with CHM.
  
  
  METHODS
  59 patients with EC who received 176 prescriptions including 178 types of herbs were enrolled into the study. The herb pairs were identified by both cluster analysis and association rules. Overall survival (OS) was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight groups of herb pairs were identified by cluster analysis, and 4 groups of herb pairs were identified by association rules. Of these, 3 groups of herb pairs were identified by both methods. OS estimation showed that the pair of chicken gizzard-membrane/Astragalus was associated with improved survival in patients with EC treated with CHM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients who received prescriptions containing the pair of chicken gizzard-membrane and Astragalus had improved OS compared with patients who received prescriptions lacking this pair.
authors.forename: Yu-Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Jing-Xiu
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bing
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Wen-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jian-Zi
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.forename: Xiao Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Jia-Li
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal