Routine physical check-ups cannot diagnose pulmonary hypertension. That’s because the typical symptoms of this disease are common with other conditions that affect the heart and the lungs. Some of the common tests are:

1. Standard Echocardiogram: This is usually the initial test for diagnosing pulmonary hypertension. In this test, sound waves are passed into the heart. The sound waves, which get reflected from the heart, are collected by the transducer placed on the chest (i.e. directly above the heart). Another machine will display images of the breathing heart. Using the images, a doctor can find how thick and wide the heart muscles are.

2. Transesophageal echocardiogram: A standard echocardiogram may not always be able to obtain a thorough image of the heart. In such cases, the transesophageal echocardiogram test is administered. In this test, a transducer is brought into the esophagus with the help of a tube. Since the transducer is now nearer to the heart, it can create a more in-depth image.

3. Pulmonary function test: In this test, the person exhales out air into an instrument called spirometer. This instrument finds the flow of air though the lungs both during inhalation and exhalation. All these help to measure the capacity of the lungs (that is, the amount of air inside them).