Data-mining-revealed Regularities of Application of Meridian Acupoints for Coronary Heart Disease in Ancient Chinese Medical Literature

Abstract

To analyze the regularities of selection of meridian acupoints for coronary heart disease (CHD) recorded in the ancient Chinese medical literature, in order to provide a reference for clinical application of meridian acupoint recipes to treat CHD nowadays. Papers were retrieved from 1 156 ancient Chinese medical books collected in "Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine" (Fifth Edition) by using key words "Xin Tong"(cardiac pain), "Zhen Xin Tong"(true heart pain), "Jue Xin Tong"(precordial pain with cold limbs), "Xiong Bi" (obstruction of qi in the chest), "Zheng Chong"(severe palpitation), "Xin Ji"(palpitation), followed by establishment of a database. Then, the association analysis data mining technology was used to analyze the characteristics and regularities of application of meridian acupoints in the treatment of CHD. A total of 347 items of ancient document data were collected, containing acupoints of the 12 regular meridians, Conception Vessel and Governor Vessel, with a frequency of usage being 625 times. Among the involved meridians, the Conception Vessel was most frequently used, followed by the Pericardium Meridian. Zhongwan (CV 12) was the most frequently used acupoint, and Rangu (KI 2) and Taixi (KI 3), CV 12 and Shangwan (CV 13), and Quze (PC 3) and Daling (PC 7) were the top 3 frequently used auxiliary acupoint pairs. In ancient China, in the treatment of CHD, the main acupoints of the Conception and Pericardium Meridian, and the auxiliary acupoints i．e., five-shu points are most frequently used. PC 3 and PC 7 combination is suitable for the treatment of CHD with negative emotion.