Before your operation we will arrange tests to assess your general state of health and fitness for surgery. These may include:

Non-anaesthetic tests

You won't need to be under anaesthetic for a:

• blood tests
• chest X-ray 
• electrocardiogram (ECG): to look at the electrical activity of your heart beat and muscle function.​​​​​​
• spirometry: to test your breathing
• lung function test: to test your lung capacity 
• computerised tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance (MRI) scan: scans which give us a more detailed image than a chest x-ray
• PET scan: this shows us how your organs are functioning rather than how they look  
• bone scan - to look at bone structure.
• ventilation/perfusion (VQ) scan: which examines the volume of gas and blood flow in the lungs.​​​​​​
• barium swallow: this allows us to take a closer look at the oesophagus and stomach

Under anaesthetic tests

You will need to be under anaesthetic for a: 

• bronchoscopy: which uses a telescopic camera to examine the airways of the lungs
• mediastinoscopy: usually done at the same time as a bronchoscopy to allow doctors to take tissue samples
• oesophagoscopy: this uses a telescopic camera to get a closer look at the oesophagus (food pipe) and stomach, as well as allowing doctors to take tissue samples 
• video-assisted thoracoscopy (VATS): a form of keyhole surgery to examine the lungs or pleura (linings of the lung) under video guidance

Find out more about our lung surgery services.