Objective To analyze the therapeutic regularities and characteristics of blood-letting therapy for acne in the past clinical practice by using data mining.Methods Original papers about acne treated by pricking blood therapy were searched and screened from common databases as Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database(CNKI)

WanFang Data

SinoMed

Ovid

ScienceDirect

Socolar

SciFinder

Foreign Medical Journal Full-Text Service(FMJS)and PubMed using keywords of acne+bleeding therapy

acne+blood-letting

acne+pricking blood

followed by establishing a data plateform to conduct a data mining using Online Analytical Processing(OLAP).Results A total of 230 original journal articles about acne treated by pricking blood therapy were collected.The included acne cases with wind-heat pattern were predoment

being 56 in frequency-times and acounting for 24.78%.In the treatment of acne

the therapeutic tool

three-edged needle was often used

being168 in frequency and acounting for 71.79%.The frequently employed acupoints were those of the Governor Vessel and Bladder Meridian

such as Dazhui(GV 14)and back-shu points.When auricular points used for blood-letting

Erjian(EX-HN 6)and the Vena of the auricular back were most frequently selected.In addition to blood-letting

other therapies such as Chinese herbal medicines

filiform needles

and otopoint-pellet pressure were also used in combination

being 166 in items and constituting72.17%.Generally

blood-letting treatment was conducted once every three days(twice a week)or once every two days(three times a week)for about 20 sessions for each acne patient.Conclusion Blood-letting therapy is effective in the treatment of acne.But if used in combination with other therapies

the therapeutic effect would be better.