“Can you hear pneumonia with a stethoscope?”
I am a 18 year old male. I want to know if you can hear pneumonia with a stethoscope?
2 Answers
Pneumonia can cause crackles on lung examination. On lung auscultation, we can also preform the Egophony test. By instructing the patient to say a long "E," we can hear a "E to A transition" where the sound has a more "A" like quality in patients with pneumonia. In patients without pneumonia, we would hear a normal "E" sound.
No, pneumonia cannot be diagnosed with just a stethoscope. You can hear some fluid in the lungs, but will need to get a chest X-ray to be sure about pneumonia diagnosis.
