Rules of acupoint selection in acupoint application therapy on coronary heart disease: A text mining study

Acupoint application therapy is one of the Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) external therapies, which has been used for coronary heart disease (CHD) treatment for a long time. The prescription of acupoint application therapy includes both Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) and acupoints. This study aims to reveal the basic rules of acupoint selection in acupoint application therapy on CHD treatment by text mining study. Results showed that on CHD treatment, the most frequently used acupoint was Danzhong (RN17), followed by Xinshu (BL15), Neiguan (PC6), Zusanli (ST36) and Zhiyang (DU9). Acupoints closing to the heart or with specific functions were more frequently used. Moreover, Xinshu, Danzhong and Neiguan were of the top 3 relationships with other acupoints, while Zusanli and Sanyinjiao (SP6) were in the lower grade. The combination of Xinshu-Danzhong-Neiguan could be regard as the basic acupoint prescription of acupoint application therapy on CHD.