Objective To construct the top ontology of traditional Chinese medicine（ TCM） physician’s knowledge system of treatment based on syndrome differentiation（ TBSD） through combing literatures of guidelines

standards

and textbooks. Methods CNKI

CBM

Wan Fang and VIP databases were systematically searched using the terms "TCM"

"medical record"

"case report"

and "guideline"

"standard"

and "clinical pathway"

and relevant teaching materials including TBSD were searched manually. We take Note Express as the literature management software. Qualified literatures were distinguished by initial and full-text screening

and the basic elements of TBSD were extracted. We use Gephi as the software for co-occurrence analysis and visual display. Results Forty-two literatures were finally included

involving 22 guidelines（ 52. 3%）

17 standards（ 40. 5%）

1 regulation（ 2. 4%）and 2 sets of teaching materials（ 4. 8%）. Taking the basic elements of syndrome differentiation and treatment as the point

the co-occurrence relationship between the points and the points is the edge

and a document-based cooccurrence map of elements of syndrome differentiation and treatment is constructed. The basic elements of syndrome differentiation and treatment and the links between various elements can form the top-level ontology of the syndrome differentiation and treatment knowledge system that includes four domains

53 basic elements and 9 types of elements

including clinical manifestations

diagnosis

treatment

and therapeutic effects. Conclusion The knowledge system of syndrome differentiation and treatment is embodied in guidelines

standards

and teaching materials for the diagnosis and treatment of traditional Chinese medicine. By sorting out the relevant literature

a common framework for the top-level ontology of the syndrome differentiation and treatment knowledge system including clinical performance

diagnosis

treatment

and therapeutic effect can be constructed.