A low-dose chest CT is a rapid CT scan of the lungs, optimised to find small nodules at a fraction of a standard CT's radiation dose. It is the recommended screening test for lung cancer in current and former heavy smokers, and a common add-on for anyone screening the chest.
A single breath-hold acquisition.
A fraction of a standard-dose chest CT.
A partner centre's published non-covered price for a chest and rib CT.
Medione A. Basic Health Checkup, the cheapest programme carrying the low-dose chest CT outright. (≈$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.
Lung nodules, including small ones a whole-body MRI would miss, and other structural findings in the chest.
A low-dose chest CT does not evaluate the heart, abdomen or pelvis, and a nodule it finds is not automatically cancer. Most small nodules are not; the report sets out a follow-up interval rather than a diagnosis.
Suits: Current and former heavy smokers, and anyone who wants dedicated lung screening alongside a broader work-up.
Should not have it: People who are pregnant. Tell your coordinator if you are or may be pregnant so the protocol can be adjusted.
A whole-body MRI covers five regions but is not sensitive to small lung nodules; a low-dose CT is the narrower, purpose-built test for exactly that.
Every Medione checkup programme includes a low-dose chest CT outright, starting in the Essential band. Its two whole-body MRI programmes are the exception, and carry no chest CT. Severance includes one from Premium upward. Neither KMI programme carries one, and Hanaro sells a low-dose lung CT as an add-on instead. See /pricing/, or Medione's B-5. Precision - Respiratory Checkup for a chest work-up on its own.
