Retrospective study on Professor Zhongying Zhou's experience in Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment on diabetic nephropathy

ObjectiveTo study and analyze the etiology and pathogenesis, diagnosis and prescription for cases of diabetic nephropathy (DN) treated by Professor Zhongying Zhou (Prof. Zhou) with the help of dada mining technique, so as to inherit his clinical experience and academic thoughts.MethodsAfter pretreatment of the medical record information, statistical software SPSS 13.0 was used to analyze and process the standardized data using the descriptive analysis, cluster analysis and association rules.ResultsNinety-four entries derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) four-diagnostic information were selected. Through data mining, the highest frequency was yellow-thin-greasy tongue coating, followed by dark tongue, and then by thready-slippery pulse. The main self-conscious symptoms were limb numbness, dry mouth, frequent micturition, etc. With respect to pathogenesis, the etiology related to kidney reached 73.46%. The frequency of pathological factors for deficiency, blood stasis, heat, dampness, phlegm and dryness were 137.65%, 80.25%, 78.40%, 48.77%, 21.60%, and 14.20% respectively. A total of 236 kinds of herbs were used 2913 person times, averaging 17.98 herbs per prescription.ConclusionThe pathological location of DN is in the kidney. The pathogenesis of the disease is deficiency in origin and excess in superficiality, the former of which include deficiency of the liver and kidney, and deficiency of both Qi and Yin. The main pathological factors are blood stasis, heat, dampness, phlegm, and dryness; and they act upon each other to form the complex pathogenesis in terms of blood stasis-heat, dampness-heat, phlegm-heat, and dryness-heat. All the above factors are always crucial in the aggravation of DN throughout the whole course of its pathological evolution.