OBJECTIVE To analyze the medication rules of Professor Shen Hong's TCM treatment of Crohn's disease (CD) and form the core prescription using data mining technology, and to retrospectively analyze the clinical efficacy of the core prescription combined with ustekinumab in the treatment of CD with dampness-stasis interjunction syndrome.

METHODS CD patient outpatient records treated by Professor Shen Hong were collected, and the property, taste and meridian tropism, drug frequency, association rules and complex network analysis of drugs were summarized, in order to sort out the core prescription. 62 cases of active ileocolic CD with TCM syndrome of dampness-stasis interjunction were retrospectively included, with 32 patients in the control group and 30 patients in the observation group. The control group was only given ustekinumab, and the observation group was given the core prescription oral treatment on the basis of the treatment in the control group. The observation course was 8 weeks. The improvement of clinical symptoms and changes of inflammatory indicators erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), fecal calprotectin (FC) before and after treatment were analyzed.

RESULTS The core prescription was obtained by combining drug frequency, association rules and cluster analysis, which included scutellaria baicalensis, radix sophorae flavescentis, smilax glabr, angelicae sinensis, angelica dahurica, atractylodes, tangerine peel, paeoniae alba, saposhnikovia, coicis semen, yam, nidus vespae, cynanchum paniculatum, radix aucklandiae, massa medicata fermentata, glycyrrhiza uralensis, and was named Qingchang Tongluo Formula by Professor Shen Hong. Retrospective clinical research showed that after treatment, the TCM syndrome scores of the 2 groups of patients were significantly reduced (P<0.05, P<0.01), the total TCM syndrome score of the observation group was better than that of the control group (P<0.01), and the TCM clinical significant recovery rate of the observation group was better than the control group (P<0.05); the ESR, CRP, and FC levels of patients in both groups were significantly reduced (P<0.01), and the improvement in the observation group was better than that in the control group (P<0.05). No obvious drug-related adverse reactions were found in the 2 groups of patients during treatment.

CONCLUSION Professor Shen Hong distinguishes the treatment of CD by clearing heat and removing blood stasis, strengthening spleen and healing lesions. The core prescription Qingchang Tongluo prescription, combined with ustekinumab can improve clinical symptoms and inflammation levels. It can be used clinically as an effective treatment for ileocolonic Crohn's disease with dampness-stasis interjunction syndrome.