Asthma

This is similar to a blood test but instead of a needle going into a vein it is inserted briefly into a small artery in your wrist. A small amount of blood is taken and sent to the laboratory for information about the oxygenation of your blood and other gases. Blood gas measurements may also be used if you have known respiratory, metabolic or kidney disease, especially if you have severe difficulty breathing. Many conditions can cause a blood gas imbalance and while the blood gas tests do not identify the exact cause of the imbalance they will point to either a respiratory or metabolic problem.

During this test a thin fibreoptic tube is inserted into your breathing tubes, through the nose, to view the tubes and take a biopsy (remove cells or tissue) to see if there are cancer cells present. It is usually undertaken under local anesthetic. You may be given medicine to make you sleepy and relaxed. A specialist doctor does this procedure in an operating theatre environment.

A chest X-ray is normally undertaken to check the chest wall, lungs and heart. A chest X-ray is often the first test used to determine the reason for shortness of breath, persistent cough, chest pain or injury. Although you may think of an X-ray as a picture of bones, a trained observer can also see air spaces, like the lungs (which look black) and fluid (which looks white). Women should always advise their doctor if they are or think they may be pregnant before an X-ray is undertaken. When having a chest X-ray you are exposed to a very small amount of radiation. What to expect? You will have all metal objects removed from your body. You will be asked to remain still in a specific position and hold your breath on command. There are staff present, but they will not necessarily remain in the room, but will speak with you via an intercom system and will be viewing the procedure constantly through a windowed control room.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Computer Tomography (CT) Scan

Depending on what is seen on the CT scan an additional test can be done where a fine needle is inserted into your chest into the cancer and some cells sucked up into the needle. This is done while taking pictures with the CT scanner to guide the doctor as to where to place the needle. Local anesthetic is put into your skin and muscles so that the test is not overly painful. A specialist doctor does this.

Lung Cancer

You may be advised to take lung function tests to find out how much air moves in and out as you breathe. The two most common tools used to measure lung function are spirometers and peak flow meters. Lung function tests are usually done before and after taking a medication known as a bronchodilator (asthma reliever medication) to open your airways.

Peak Flow Meter

Sleep Problems

Spirometry is a test which measures the speed at which your lungs can be filled and emptied of air. It can be used to diagnose problems of breathing and monitor the usefulness of treatment. In order to do spirometry, you take a deep breath in and blow out as hard as you can into a hollow tube attached to a spirometer machine for 6 seconds. You will be asked to do the test 3 times. The whole process takes 10 – 15 minutes depending on whether or not you are given some inhaled medicine and asked to do it again to monitor if there is an improvement.