Abstract: Objective To explore the ways in which elemene emulsion injection is used in the treatment of lung cancer in the real world and to provide reference for standardized use of elemene emulsion injection among lung cancer patients. Methods In this study, the electronic cases of 21 hospitals collected between January 1, 2003 and July 31, 2019 were retrieved from the multi-dimensional data warehouse of electronic cases established by the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Lung cancer patients who had used this injection were screened from the database. Basic information about these patients, the usage of elemene emulsion injection and concomitant medications were analyzed, and the number of patients with suspected adverse reactions (including patients with suspected liver and kidney function damage and suspected allergic reactions) was calculated. In addition, the discharge records of patients who were regarded as “cured” and “improved”, were retrieved and the complex network of drugs was analyzed using the Louvain clustering method to identify the core drugs. Results A total of 1 856 patients with lung cancer who had received elemene emulsion injection were collected, including 1 149 (61.91%) males and 686 (36.96%) females. There were 851 patients aged 46 to 65, accounting for 45.85% of the total. The routes of administration were basically consistent with the instructions, but there were sub-standard prescriptions. There were 12 cases of suspected liver function damage, 8 cases of suspected renal function damage, and 10 cases of suspected allergic reactions. Elemene emulsion injection was often used in combination with such Western medicines as heparin, lidocaine, potassium chloride, vitamins, dexamethasone and thymosin and with other traditional Chinese medicine preparations. The results were further verified by association rule analysis. Conclusion The combined medications with elemene emulsion injection in the treatment of lung cancer are intended to combat tumors and bacteria, regulate immunity, provide nutritional support and improve lung function. Most of the clinical applications comply with the instructions, but there are some cases of off-label use. More studies are needed on the correlations between adverse drug reactions and the use of this injection.

Key words: elemene emulsion injection, lung cancer, the real world, usage of drugs, association rules, clustering analysis