A DEXA scan measures bone mineral density at the spine and hip and returns a T-score, which is the number osteoporosis is defined by. The dose is a fraction of a chest X-ray, and the value of the first one is that every later scan is measured against it.
Lying still on a table, fully clothed.
A small fraction of a chest X-ray.
KMI STANDARD, the cheapest programme on this site that includes a DEXA scan at all. (≈$373)
One week is the earliest an imaging slot can be held, and there is no referral step before it.
English report in your hands in about a week. You also get a consultation on preliminary findings on the day of the screening, before you leave.
Programme contents and prices from each partner centre's own foreigner-facing published list, read 2026-08-05: KMI Global and Hanaro Medical Foundation's English site. Standalone per-test prices are a Korean partner centre's 비급여 (non-covered) posting, the itemised list 의료법 제45조 requires a clinic to publish, read the same day. Scheduling and report turnaround are Meridiko's own operating figures, confirmed 2026-08-06, not a centre's published ones (https://global.kmi.or.kr/examination/foreigner_examination; https://en-mobile.hanaromf.com/program/prog01/prog01_01.jsp), measured 2026-08-05. Dollar figures are converted from each centre's won price at ₩1,342 = $1 (open.er-api.com, 2026-09-13). The won figure is the price; the pairing moves with the rate.
Bone mineral density at the lumbar spine and hip, reported as a T-score against a young-adult reference. It is how osteopenia and osteoporosis are diagnosed, and it is the baseline every future scan is compared with.
It does not find fractures, and a normal T-score does not mean a bone cannot break. It also says nothing about why density is low, which is a blood work-up.
Suits: Women after menopause, men over 65, anyone on long-term steroids, anyone with a parent who fractured a hip, and anyone thin or with a history of low body weight. Also anyone who wants a baseline while it is still cheap to establish one.
Should not have it: Nobody on safety grounds. It is the lowest-dose imaging test in any program. Pregnancy is the exception, as with any X-ray-based scan.
A DEXA scan measures density; an X-ray finds a break. They are not substitutes, and the reason DEXA exists is that bone can lose a third of its density with nothing visible on a plain film.
Included from the Essential tier on this site, because Hanaro's Basic program carries it. Note the asymmetry worth checking: KMI Global's foreigner-facing Standard and Signature do not include bone densitometry, and its Noble program is where it starts.
