Why is my chest ‘crackling’ when I breathe in and out? Ask the GP DR MARTIN SCURR By Dr Martin Scurr For The Daily Mail Published: 17:01 BST, 26 August 2024 | Updated: 17:05 BST, 26 August 2024 e-mail View comments During a recent health MOT, my GP suggested a chest X-ray after noticing ‘crackles’ when I breathed in and out. I am 62, a non-smoker and very active. What could be the cause? Kay Parton, Oxfordshire.
The term crackles is used to describe abnormal breath sounds heard when a doctor is listening to the chest with a stethoscope. It’s a rattling noise, one of several chest sounds that can indicate a potential problem. Others include ronchi (wheezing); friction rub (an audible ‘rasping’ sound); and stridor (many of us will have heard this when caring for a child suffering from croup).
Crackles (also known as rales) are heard when the lungs are affected by pneumonia (an infection in the air sacs of the lungs, which may then fill with fluid), bronchitis (inflammation of the bronchial tubes) or oedema (fluid in the lung tissue usually caused by heart failure). Why crackles would be heard in someone like you who is active and healthy, with no cough, is hard to explain. Crackles are one of several chest sounds that can indicate a potential problem In your longer letter, you mention you had Covid last summer and queried if that played a part.
But this seems unlikely as you are now feeling well. Your GP has referred you for a chest X-ray. If this shows no abnorma.