Some measure how much air you breathe in or out or how much oxygen is going from your lungs to the rest of your body, while others can show if you have an infection or another problem that’s keeping you from breathing well.
Simple Tests
Spirometry. This is the simplest and most common lung test. You breathe in and out as hard as you can through a tube, and your doctor measures how much air goes in and out of your lungs. It can help diagnose conditions that affect how much air your lungs can hold, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). During this test, your doctor may give you medication to open your airways and help you breathe more easily.
Challenge test. Your doctor will do spirometry first, then ask you to breathe in a spray of a drug called methacholine, which can irritate your airways and make them narrow. Your doctor will do another spirometry to see how the spray affects your breathing. They’ll repeat this with small doses until you start to wheeze or feel short of breath. Your doctor may give you medicine to open your airways again. This test can be used to rule out asthma.
If your doctor thinks you have a condition called exercise-induced asthma, they may do a similar version of this test called an exercise challenge. Instead of methacholine, your doctor will ask you to use a treadmill or stationary bike and see how that physical activity affects your breathing.
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