Objective

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To explore the macroscopic medication pattern of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） in treating esophageal cancer （EC） and provide medication references for the clinical application of TCM in EC treatment.

Method

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Relevant literature on TCM treatment of EC was retrieved from three major Chinese databases： China National Knowledge Infrastructure （CNKI）， Wanfang Data， and VIP. Information about Chinese herbal medicines was entered into Excel to establish a prescription database for EC. The data were standardized， summarized， and subjected to frequency analysis， association rules， and cluster analysis of medication in the prescriptions. Based on the TCM classification of EC syndromes， clinical indications corresponding to each syndrome were identified， and high-frequency drugs and drug pairs were analyzed correspondingly with syndromes.

Result

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A total of 136 prescriptions containing 240 Chinese herbal medicines were screened， with a cumulative frequency of 1 853 times. The top 5 frequently used Chinese herbal medicines were Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma， Poria， Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma， Astragali Radix， and Pinelliae Rhizoma. In terms of functions， the Chinese herbal medicines were mainly deficiency-tonifying， urination-promoting and dampness-draining， deficiency-tonifying， deficiency-tonifying， and phlegm-resolving and cough and dyspnea-relieving ones. The statistical analysis of flavor， property， and meridian tropism showed that Chinese herbal medicines were mainly bitter and sweet， warm， cold， and neutral， and acted on the spleen， lung， and stomach meridians. Association rule analysis yielded nine potential drug combinations， and cluster analysis of high-frequency drugs resulted in four combination categories. The four TCM syndromes for EC corresponded to respective clinical indications， treatment drugs， and drug pairs.

Conclusion

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Tonifying deficiency， reinforcing healthy Qi， descending adverse Qi， resolving phlegm， activating blood， and resolving stasis are the basic principles of TCM treatment for EC， which are supplemented by clearing heat and dissipating mass while focusing on regulating and smoothing the qi movement. The drug combinations obtained from high-frequency drug and association rule analysis provide references for different TCM syndrome treatments of EC， offering valuable insights for clinical medication.