Dr. Killian Hurley:

In the short term, a breathing test can make you cough and feel breathless, but there is no risk in having a breathing test. It does not cause any type of disease that we know of. The main type of test we use to diagnose fibrosis is a CT scan of the lungs. That in itself does not cause any damage to the lungs. That is the main way we diagnose someone. People who come to my clinic are often referred from a GP or by a colleague. They will have had a cough or shortness of breath for some time, will have had the usual tests and may have tried some other treatments for asthma or COPD. On average, it can take a year or even two years for someone to get to that diagnosis. That is delayed in Ireland because we do not have access to good diagnostics in the community. They come to my clinic, either they have a CT scan or I will request one, and then we will make the diagnosis, but that is usually a diagnosis made between a group of us on a multidisciplinary team. It is quite a big group of people who sit together, look at the scans, think about what they show and then try to make a diagnosis.