The development of health-related quality of life (HRQL) instrument in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is increasing rapidly in China, but few studies focus on their necessity. This study explores the necessity of the development of TCM instruments from both theoretical and practice perspectives, and aims to explain whether the adoption of the cross-medical style is valid. Through theoretical analysis, both TCM and Western medicine instruments show the same objectives, whereas TCM instruments are more suitable for the Chinese social behavior, customs and expectations. In practical analysis, 47 TCM instruments were identified, among which 17 had 18 corresponding Western medical instruments. In the domains layer, except for physiological, psychological and social factors, TCM instruments focus more on the harmony between body and spirit, humanity and nature or human and society and the constitution, etc. In the facts layer, TCM instruments focus on the emotions, initiative social intercourse, TCM symptoms, diet, sleep, taste, feces and urine, etc. In addition, significant differences existed in the methods of information selection. There is no need to modify cross-medical style research except when TCM characteristic terms exist, but attention must be paid to the influence of culture in different areas. Therefore, the TCM instruments can resolve the limitations of the application of Western medical instruments to the Chinese setting, while also having remarkable abilities of information coverage and detection. Both forms of instruments have the capacity and requirement to inter-communicate with each other in order to serve the whole Chinese cultural system. Generally speaking, there is no need to modify the instruments in cross-medical style research. But this point requires further demonstration in the rigorous designed clinical trials.

Objective To compare the morphology differences in small shadows of occupational pneumoconiosis (hereinafter referred to as "pneumoconiosis") between computed tomography (CT) and digital radiography (DR) imaging. Methods A total of 1 010 pneumoconiosis patients were selected as the research subjects using a judgment sampling method. Chest DR imaging and CT imaging were performed on patients, and the differences in small shadow morphology between the two images were compared. Results In both DR and CT images of patients, circular small shadows identified as p, q, and r shapes accounted for 76.2%, 11.5%, and 1.3%, respectively, while irregular small shadows were identified in 1.8% of cases. There was medium high consistency between DR and CT in detecting these four types of small shadow morphology (Kappa=0.72, P<0.01). The detection rate of irregular small shadows (including interlobular septal thickening, ground-glass opacity, and/or centrilobular emphysema) by CT images was 54.0% (545/1 010), with 88.6% (483/545) of these cases also showing small circular shadows. Irregular small shadows in CT images were mostly identified as p small circular shadows in DR images, accounting for 88.8% (484/545). The results of DR and CT images for p/p, p/q, q/p, q/q, q/r, r/q and r/r in small circular shadows showed medium high consistency (Kappa =0.52, P<0.01). Conclusion The results of CT and DR imaging for pneumoconiosis with small shadow were of medium high consistency, with CT demonstrating advantages in detecting irregular small shadow morphology of pneumoconiosis. CT images can be used to describe the shape of circular small shadow as DR images, and irregular small shadow can be described as interlobular septal thickening, ground-glass opacity, and/or centrilobular emphysema.