Chinese herbal medicines for rhinosinusitis: a text-mining study with comparisons to contemporary research and clinical guidance

作者：Jing Cui, Brian H. May, Wenmin Lin, Qiulan Luo, Anthony Lin Zhang, Xinfeng Guo, Chuanjian Lu, Yunying Li, Charlie Changli Xue · 发表于：BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s12906-025-04895-x · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Sinusitis and nasal conditions、Allergic Rhinitis and Sensitization、Traditional Chinese Medicine Studies

BACKGROUND: Rhinosinusitis is an inflammation of the paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity. It is managed with intra-nasal steroids, nasal saline irrigation, oral antibiotics and/or biologics. Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) have long been used for nasal disorders, including rhinosinusitis, and feature in Chinese clinical guidelines for rhinosinusitis. Systematic reviews suggest some CHM formulations may be beneficial for the management of this condition. METHODS: This text mining study used an established methodology to search a database containing the full texts of more than 1,150 classical and pre-modern Chinese medicine books to identify references to disorders similar to rhinosinusitis, and the CHMs used as interventions. Ten search terms relevant to names of disorders in classical books and the major symptoms of rhinosinusitis were identified. Search results were downloaded, categorised, and analysed descriptively in SPSS®. Qualitative comparisons were made with the modern clinical Chinese medicine literature. RESULTS: Searches found 436 oral CHM formulae with 3,059 ingredients, 81 nasal or other topical CHMs with 142 ingredients, and 112 single natural products from classical pharmacopoeia used orally and/or topically. The earliest reference to a disorder similar to rhinosinusitis was in a Chinese medical book written approximately 2,000 years ago. Three oral CHM formulae from the search have been tested in randomised controlled trials and one is included in a clinical gu...