Your doctor may do one or many tests to diagnose lung disease, a few are listed here:
For more information on treatments for a particular disease, look under the name of the disease in the Diseases A-Z directory.
Bronchoscopy
A bronchoscopy is a test that allows the doctor to look through your nose or mouth into the trachea (windpipe) and down to the bronchi (large airways) in your lungs. This is done with a thin, flexible tube with a light and camera on the end called a bronchoscope. Your doctor can take tissue or fluid samples if needed, through a channel in the bronchoscope. Some specialized bronchoscopes such as endobronchial ultrasound (EBus) can give a more detailed image of the lungs and the lymph nodes located in the chest. The area where lymph nodes are located is called the mediastinum.
Spirometry
Spirometry is a breathing test that measures
- how much air you can blow out and
- how fast you can blow air out.