title: [Research on characteristics of different clinical conditions treated by red-hot acupuncture needle based on data mining needle].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the regularities and characters of clinical application of red-hot needle therapy in ancient and modern literature of Chinese medicine by using data mining techniques, so as to provide a reference for study on the specificity of efficacy of red-hot needle therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sample data was collected from some medical books, medical cases, reports of modern journals for calculating frequent item sets by using methods of association rules of data mining. Then, the collected data was extracted, sorted out, and summed up by using our newly developed literature database platform of red-hot needle therapy in order to find out the most suitable indications of this therapy in clinical practice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 6 categories of clinical conditions treated by red-hot needle therapy were found. Among them, the frequency times (percentages) of red-hot needle application for surgical problems appeared in journals, medical cases and medical books are 287 times (49.83%), 235 times (48.96%), 154 times (41.73%), respectively. The frequency times of red-hot needle application for disorders of internal medicine and dermatology are 276 times and 360 times. Among the 115 categories of clinical conditions or diseases treated by red-hot needle appeared in journals, arthromyodynia and struma are frequently found, with the frequency being 115 and 46 times, separately. The total effective rates of the present therapy from higher to lower are 99.46% for pediatric problems, 98.65% five sensory organs department, 97.32% surgery, 96.66% dermatology, 96.34% gynecology, and 93.95% internal medicine, respectively. Among the 97 types of clinical conditions recorded in the literature on medical cases, aural verruca is more frequently seen apart from arthromyodynia and struma. In medical books, 94 types of clinical conditions treated by red-hot needle therapy are found, including 32 types of problems of internal medicine.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data mining results show that red-hot needle therapy has been widely used in different clinical departments, and more frequently used in surgery (mainly orthopedic and general surgery), internal medicine (mainly neurology and gastroenterology), dermatology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy, the Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding 071000, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Chun-Sheng
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Jian-Ling
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiao-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiao-Kang
authors.initials: XK
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yan-Hui
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xuan-Ping
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Mei-Ling
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Su-Gang
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Xiao-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Duan
mesh_terms: D015670:Acupuncture Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D057225:Data Mining; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D009339:Needles