Physical Examination - Diagnosing Asthma: Adult Asthma

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Physical examination

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Your doctor will do a physical examination and, in particular, listen to your lungs with a stethoscope as you take a series of deep breaths. During a normal breathing cycle (one breath in, one breath out), the bronchial tubes always narrow to some degree when you breathe out, after widening when you breathe in. In asthma, however, the narrowing is more pronounced and can cause a wheeze that has a characteristic musical quality. This wheeze can be heard throughout the chest, and it tends to be particularly prominent when you breathe out.

But other diseases, such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema, can also produce wheezing that is similar to that caused by asthma. To further complicate matters, the absence of a wheeze does not exclude a diagnosis of asthma. The chest can sound perfectly clear, even with a stethoscope, if the doctor listens at a time when you are free of symptoms and your breathing tubes are narrowed only a little or not at all.

Diagnosing asthma: 3 of 6

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Last updated:	September 27, 2007

Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.

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