Previously submitted to: JMIR Medical Informatics (no longer under consideration since Jun 23, 2021)
Date Submitted: Apr 1, 2020
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
The application of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatments of gastralgia caused by deficient cold of spleen and stomach based on document analysis and data analysis
ABSTRACT
Objective:
The objectives are to explore the acupoint selection rules and the related mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) acupuncture and moxibustion therapy in the treatments of gastralgia caused by deficient cold of spleen and stomach through document analysis and data analysis, and to provide a reference for the acupuncture treatments of gastralgia clinically.
Methods:
A total of 186 TCM books and ancient TCM books in existence on the theories of acupuncture and moxibustion were selected to construct a database of ancient masterpieces; all of the selected books were in relation to acupuncture and moxibustion therapy, gastralgia, and other diseases that referred to gastralgia. In addition, a total of 330 foreign and domestic books and journal articles on TCM acupuncture and moxibustion therapy of gastralgia published in recent 50 years were collected to construct a database of modern documents through the searches of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, Superstar Data Library, etc. After the data were input and submitted to statistical analysis, the application and distribution of acupoints in TCM acupuncture and moxibustion prescriptions were analyzed.
Results:
(1) Through the data mining and data analysis of all the ancient books and modern documents, a total of 796 acupuncture and moxibustion prescriptions were found, in which 115 acupoints were utilized. The top 10 most frequently occurred acupoints were Zusanli, Zhongyu, Neiguan, Weishu, Gongsun, Pishu, Taichong, Sanyinjiao, Tianshu, and Neiting. (2) The selection of acupoints in the treatments of gastralgia by acupuncture and moxibustion therapy was mostly distributed at lower limbs, followed by abdomen, upper limbs, and the back, while the acupoints on head-face-neck were the least. (3) Although the acupoints of gastralgia were distributed throughout the 14 meridians, most of them were concentrated in the stomach meridian of Foot Yangming, Ren Meridian, pericardial meridian of Hand Jueyin, bladder meridian of Foot Taiyang, etc. (4) In the treatment of gastralgia by TCM acupuncture and moxibustion therapy, the most frequently selected acupoints in the combination of 2 acupoints were Zusanli and Zhongyu, and the most frequently selected acupoints in the combination of 3 acupoints were respectively Zusanli, Zhongyu, and Neiguan. Conclusion: In summary, acupuncture and moxibustion therapy can regulate the Qi and blood and smooth the meridians in the treatments of gastralgia caused by deficient cold of spleen and stomach. In addition, acupoints on the stomach meridian of Foot Yangming were often selected, with an emphasis on local acupoint selection and distal acupoint along with the meridian selection. The selected acupoints were mainly on the involved meridians and lesions, which can be used as a reference for the selection of acupoints in the treatments of gastralgia by acupuncture and moxibustion therapy clinically.
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