The Fundamental Study for the Standardization and Objectification of Pattern Identification in Traditional Korean Medicine for Stroke (SOPI-Stroke): An overview of phase I

ObjectiveThe purpose of this article was to introduce our project, a Fundamental Study for the Standardization and Objectification of Pattern Identification in Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM) for Stroke.DesignThe total time period for this project is nine years from April 2005 to December 2013. These nine years are divided into three phases, with three years per phase. This article reports the first phase, which had three subprojects; the Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine was responsible for the first and the third subproject, and KyungHee University for the second subproject. The objective of this first phase was to standardize stroke diagnosis using pattern identification (PI), to create a standard clinical chart using a combination of TKM and Western medicine, and to construct a biobank and find biomarkers associated with patterns of stroke.ResultsAt the end of the first phase, we obtained five patterns (Fire-Heat, Dampness-Phlegm, Qi-Deficiency, Yin-Deficiency, and Blood Stasis), 60 pattern indicators and a unified clinical chart with a combination of 60 pattern indicators from TKM and 47 diagnostic indicators from Western medicine. In addition, 32 single nucleotide polymorphisms related with patterns were identified by genome-wide assay, and using proteomic analysis via the surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization-TOF, we identified specific plasma proteins associated with varying patterns of stroke. We also developed a tool of PI for stroke and a prediction program for stroke risk ratio in Korean people.ConclusionsThis study will advance the scientific knowledge of physicians, enhancing the accuracy of PI in TKM.