Emphysema is a serious condition that breaks down lung tissues and narrows breathing passages. While there is no cure for this disease, treatment can help reduce or postpone its worst effects, and that’s why early detection is so important. There are several tests that doctors run to look for emphysema, and while none of them on their own can conclusively point to the illness, they provide doctors with a complete picture of a patient’s lung health when combined.
Physical Exams
The first step in diagnosing emphysema is a physical exam. If a patient complains of shortness of breath that becomes progressively worse, a doctor will look for signs that it might be emphysema. Specifically, your doctor will look for things such as:
- Reduced sounds of breathing
- An increase in chest size due to the abnormal expansion of the lungs caused by emphysema
- Fingernail clubbing, or the swelling and softening of the fingernails
- Blue lips as a result of oxygen deprivation
Pulmonary Function Tests
After the physical exam, a doctor may recommend a pulmonary function test, or PFT. This test measures the amount of air coming into and out of the lungs. Patients sit inside an enclosure and breathe through a tube, which can detect how long it takes to completely rid the lungs of air. Healthy people can accomplish this in about one second, but those with emphysema typically take much longer.
X-Rays
A chest X-ray is another important test for diagnosis emphysema. This can help doctors determine if the patient’s lungs are much larger than usual—a tell-tale sign of the disease. However, lung growth normally only takes place in the late stages of emphysema, which means that patients may initially receive normal results.
CT Scans
A doctor may also recommend a CT scan in the diagnosis process. Doing this will reveal any air pockets in the lungs that trap air and prevent patients from exhaling normally.
Blood Tests
Doctors use blood tests in a number of different ways during the diagnosis process. One way they’re used is to monitor a patient’s white blood cell levels. If they are elevated, this could be an indication of a lung infection—a classic symptom of emphysema. In addition to monitoring cell counts, blood tests can also help doctors see how efficiently a patient’s lungs are oxygenating blood and removing carbon dioxide.
