Objective: To analyze the medication rule in herbal prescriptions for acute gout arthritis treated by contemporary famous doctors of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) based on Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance Support System (TCMISS). Method: The herbal prescriptions for acute gout arthritis treated by famous TCM doctors from papers were collected

and then the composition principles were analyzed by using data mining methods such as association rules analysis

revised mutual information

complex system entropy cluster and unsupervised hierarchical cluster. Result: Based on the analysis of 228 herbs in 141 herbal prescriptions

the using frequency of each herb and association rules among the herbs were determined; 28 common herbal pairs

18 core combinations and 9 new prescriptions were mined from the database. Conclusion: According to the analysis results

most of the prescriptions for treating acute gout arthritis followed the basic treatment principles of releasing heat and eliminating dampness

detoxifying and relieving swelling

invigorating blood circulation and relieving pain. The key pathogenesis of this disease is heat

damp

poison

and blood stasis.