Objective

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To explore the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） syndrome of local lesions in patients with ischemic diabetic foot ulcer.

Methods

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The data of 32 symptoms and signs specific to ischemic diabetic foot ulcers in 132 patients were retrospectively collected， and the frequency and percentage were counted. Factor analysis was performed for dimensionality reduction and classification.

Results

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Among the 32 symptoms and signs， disappearance of instep

yang

pulse was most frequent （100%）， and numbness of feet （69.7%）， low skin temperature （56.8%）， and withering dry skin with desquamation （53.8%） were those having a frequency no less than 50%. With the rule of eigenvalue of the common factor greater than one and the cumulative variance contribution rate after rotation more than 80% in the factor analysis， the prime factors of 6 was determined to be the common factors， and the cumulative sum of squared factor loadings after rotation was 93.466%. Six common factors were obtained， of which the first one mostly reflected the information of damp-heat variables， accounting for 27.908% of the original variables. The second common factor mainly described the information of heat toxin variables， while the third factor reflected the pathogenic damp obstruction variables， accounting for 27.333% and 17.523% of the original variables， respectively. The fourth to sixth common factor separately reflected the information of

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-blood depletion， pathogenic cold coagulation， and blood stasis， explaining 10.856%， 5.656% and 4.191% of the original variables， respectively.

Conclusion

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The local syndromes of ischemic diabetic foot ulcer can be classified into six types， including damp-heat syndrome， heat toxin syndrome， damp obstruction syndrome，

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-blood depletion syndrome， cold coagulation syndrome and blood stasis syndrome.