Diagnosis, investigations and tests

You may be referred to the hospital’s respiratory team by your GP if you have a persistent cough.

 

CT Scan – Computerised tomography (CT) scans take pictures of your body to find out where the cancer is and whether it has spread. Before having a CT scan, you’ll be given an injection containing a special dye, which helps improve the quality of the image. Read more about CT scans.

 

MRI Scan – Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to create a cross sectional picture of the body. You might have an MRI in selected occasions. Find out more about MRI scans

 

PET Scan - A Positron emission tomography (PET) scan produces a detailed three dimensional image inside of the body. You might have a PET scan to see if your cancer has spread. Learn more about PET scans.

 

CT guided percutaneous biopsy – A biopsy is a minor surgical procedure where a small part of your tissue is removed so that it can be examined under a microscope. This type of biopsy uses CT guidance to make sure that the correct sample of tissue is taken. 

 

Endobrochial ultrasound – The test uses a narrow flexible tube to look inside of the breathing tubes in your lungs with an ultrasound probe. The probe uses high frequency sound waves to create pictures of the lungs and structures outside of the airways, such as lymph nodes. Your doctor will be able to see any areas that look abnormal and take samples to test. 
You can read more about this procedure on the Macmillan website (opens in new tab).

 

Bronchoscopy – This procedure will see an endoscopist examine the main breathing tubes in your lungs by passing a special fibre optic tube through the nose or mouth. 
You can find out more about the procedure in our patient information leaflet.

There is also an easy read version of the patient leaflet.