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eCAM 2009 6(Supplement 1):5-10; doi:10.1093/ecam/nep101
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© 2009 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Commentary

Could there be a Synthesis between Western and Oriental Medicine, and with Sasang Constitutional Medicine in Particular?

Denis Noble

Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, Oxford University, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK

Attitudes towards oriental medicine are changing for two major reasons. The first is that many patients, even in the West, are choosing to use its practitioners and methods. The second is that the rise of Systems Biology may offer a better basis for dialogue, and even for synthesis, between the oriental and Western traditions. However, a lot of work is needed to clear the way for such dialogue and synthesis. Much of this work should be devoted to clarifying the meanings of the terms used, and the framework of theory and practice within which oriental methods operate. But it is also necessary for Systems Biology itself to mature as a discipline, particularly at the higher levels of biological organization since it is at these levels that oriental medicine derives its ideas and practice. Higher level Systems Biology could be a basis for interpretation of the Korean version of oriental medicine: Sasang constitutional medicine since it seeks patient specific analysis and treatment, and the mathematical methods of systems biology could be used to analyze the central concept of balance in Sasang.

Keywords: oriental medicine – Physiome Project – Sasang constitutional medicine – Systems Biology

For reprints and all correspondence: Prof. Denis Noble, CBE, FRS, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK. Tel: +44-1865-272528; Fax: +44-1865-272554; E-mail: denis.noble{at}dpag.ox.ac.uk

Received March 17, 2009; accepted July 13, 2009


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