Abbreviation of kampo formulations and basic terminology in kampo medicine

ABSTRACT International standards regarding traditional medicine – particularly the International Organization for Standardization/Technical Committee (ISO/TC) 249 – are currently being debated. Kampo extract formulations of standardized quality are one area in which Japanese kampo medicines have a global advantage. While there is increasing medical evidence regarding the efficacy of kampo extract formulations such as daikenchuto and yokukansan, one issue in documenting this evidence is how to describe kampo formulations using English notation. Researchers currently use abbreviations for kampo formulations, which has led to some confusion. There is also a need for a system of English notation to facilitate searches on PubMed and other search engines by researchers in countries that do not use Chinese characters. We have therefore developed a system of abbreviated English notation for kampo formulations in order to aid the global expansion of kampo medicine. Our proposed system targets the 298 kampo formulations, including over‐the‐counter kampo extract formulations, which appear in the 2013 New Guidebook on Nonprescription Kampo Formulas. When developing the abbreviations, we investigated the notation used to express kampo formulas in academic articles on kampo identified using the PubMed search engine. Various notations were used in the literature for daikenchuto, which is a typical kampo extract formulation, and the number of articles located differed according to the search term, thus demonstrating the need to create a system of abbreviations. We used the following four guidelines in creating the abbreviations: (i) abbreviations are generally selected by choosing three letters contained in the romanized name/notation of the kampo formulation; (ii) when multiple kampo formulations have the same abbreviation, priority is given to the formulation with the most search hits on PubMed; (iii) when multiple kampo formulations have the same abbreviation, we select the one already in use; and (iv) for kampo formulations containing herbal additives, the basic structure of the name is maintained and the name of the additive is abbreviated and added to the end. Based on these four guidelines, we submitted the proposed system of abbreviations for joint discussion by the Medical and Pharmaceutical Society for Wakan‐Yaku and the Japan Society for Oriental Medicine (JSOM) in August 2014. We then sought public comment on the proposed system in October 2014 and, after receiving various suggestions for revision and corrections, the system of abbreviations for these 298 kampo formulations was established. The Committee for Vocabulary in JSOM has been overseeing Japanese terminology in kampo medicine since 1969. Approximately 300 basic terms were selected for English translation in 2014–2015. These terms are based on the terms in International Classification of Disease (ICD)‐11. These terms have been translated into English and await future publication (planned for 2018).