The rules of acupoint selection in the treatment of neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury with acupuncture and moxibustion: Based on data mining technology / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Increasing studies have shown that acupuncture has a significant effect on the treatment of neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury, but there is no uniform acupuncture prescription standard for the treatment of this disease. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the rules of selecting acupoints in the treatment of neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury with acupuncture and moxibustion. METHODS: Clinical literatures related to acupuncture treatment of neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury were retrieved in China Knowledge Network, WanFang Data, VIP database and China Biology Medicine disc from 1989 to January 2020. Then, we established a database to perform descriptive analysis, relevance principle analysis and cluster analysis of the collected acupuncture prescriptions. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: A total of 93 articles were included. Data collection and analysis showed that the acupoints and meridians with the highest frequency of neurogenic bladder after acupuncture treatment of spinal cord injury were Zhongji (CV3) (with the frequency of 55) and Bladder Meridian of Foot Taiyang (with the frequency of 161). Relevance principle analysis showed that combination of acupoints with strongest support is Guanyuan (CV4) and Zhongji (CV3). Cluster analysis of acupoints with the frequency ≥ 10 showed that acupoints could be divided into two categories. All these findings indicate that when acupuncture and moxibustion is used to treat neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury, most of the acupoints along the meridians and local acupoints are selected. The results of relevance principle analysis and cluster analysis obtained from data mining can be used to select acupoints, match acupoints and reuse specific acupoints to improve the therapeutic efficacy.