Lung cancer diagnosis

A lung cancer diagnosis starts with a medical history review to look for symptoms and possible risk factors. Then, during the physical exam, the oncologist-pulmonologist will also look for signs of lung cancer and other health problems. A person may be asked to blow into a spirometer to measure lung function. It includes spirometry, diffusion capacity, lung volume, and oxygen saturation tests. Imaging tests like X-rays and high-resolution computed tomography scans are used to make detailed pictures of what's happening inside the lungs. Doctors can determine how big and where lung tumors are with these tests. If physicians think a person has lung cancer, they may order more examinations to confirm the diagnosis and determine how far along the cancer is. Some of these are lab blood tests. If there is a reason, the patient will have a bronchoscopy (a procedure that uses a thin, flexible tube to look inside the airways) and an endoscopic biopsy (a small piece of lung tissue is taken and examined under a microscope to look for cancer cells). A histopathological specimen examination is to find out what kind of tumor it is. These are not part of the price and must be paid for separately.