ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the regularities in clinical application of acupoints in acupuncture treatment for ovulatory disorder infertility and provide guidance for clinical treatment of this disease.Methods China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, VIP Chinese Scientific Journal Database and China Biomedical Literature Database were searched to retrieve clinical literature on acupuncture treatment for ovulatory disorder infertility published from 1996 to 2015 and analyze the application frequency of main acupoints statistically, acupoint meridian tropism and regions, and regularities in acupoint selection.Results A total of 98 articles were included, involvng 58 main acupoints, 608 frequencies of using main acupoints and 11 meridians to which the main acupoints were related. The four most frequently used acupoints were Guanyuan, Sanyinjiao, Zigong and Zhongji. The meridians of which the main acupoints were used at the first five highest frequencies were in order the Ren meridian, the spleen meridian, the stomach meridian, the bladder meridian and the kidney meridian.Conclusions Guanyuan, Sanyinjiao, Zigong and Zhongji are the most frequently used acupoints in modern acupuncture treatment for ovulatory disorder infertility. The principles of acupoint selection are based on visceral and meridional syndrome differentiations. Acupoint selection along the meridian and local acupoint selection are the main methods and acupoint selection according the experience is an auxiliary method.