Abstract
The purpose of this study is to select the major pulse indicators and evaluate their significance in discriminating the subtypes of Pattern Identifications (PI) from stroke patients. Decision tree analysis was carried out using clinical data collected from 835 stroke patients with the same subtypes diagnosed identically by two experts with more than 3 year clinical experiences. Among the 10 pulse indicators, 6 major pulse indicators (slow, rapid, strong, weak, slippery, and fine pulse) were selected by decision tree analysis. The accumulated distributions of six pulse indicators in each PI showed that strong was major pulse indicator in Fire-Heat pattern, slippery in Dampness Phlegm pattern, weak in Qi Deficiency pattern. But there were two major combinations in Yin deficiency pattern, weak or fine with rapid pulse and weak or fine without rapid pulse. Therefore, it is suggested that 6 pulse indicators can be used for discrimination of PI in stroke patients, though the combination studies between these pulse indicators and the other PI indicators are left for further study.
