ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze composition principles of prescriptions for the treatment of diarrhoea caused by deficiency of spleen. Methods The prescriptions for diarrhoea caused by deficiency of spleen in the Prescriptions of Traditional Chinese Medicine Dictionary were collected, sorted and entered into the TCM Inheritance Support System (V1.3) to analyze the composition principles through the methods of entropy clustering and apriori. Results Based on the analysis of 1185 prescriptions and 815 medications, there were 33 medications with more than 50 frequencies. Composition principles were obtained through apriori method:50 herbal pairs were used with more than 50 frequencies, and 29 core combinations with more than 40 frequencies. Association principle rule were used for the analysis of those medications in the prescriptions (support≥20%, confidence≥0.9). Principles were obtained through entropy clustering:there were 19 core combinations which composed the new prescriptions, and 19 new prescriptions were found through hierarchical clustering method. There were 17 prescriptions matching with Sijunzi decoction (semblance=0.5). Conclusion Diarrhoea caused by deficiency of spleen should be treated with strengthening spleen and benefiting qi primarily, assisting with warming yang, excreting dampness and checking diarrhoea.