A thyroid ultrasound is a painless, radiation-free scan of the gland in your neck, and it is the test that made Korea a case study in overdiagnosis. It finds nodules in a large share of healthy adults, most of which will never cause harm. That is worth knowing before you have one, not after.
A probe and gel on the neck. Nothing injected, nothing swallowed.
Sound waves only.
A partner centre's published non-covered price. (≈$60)
Medione B-1. Precision - Major Cancer Checkup, the cheapest programme that includes the scan outright rather than as one of a choice. (≈$671)
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 two weeks on average, one week at the soonest and three at the latest. 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 confirmed 2026-08-06 and 2026-10-14 respectively (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.
Nodules, cysts and enlargement in the thyroid, with their size and appearance. It is the test that decides whether a needle biopsy is even worth discussing.
It cannot tell you whether a nodule is cancer. That takes a fine-needle aspiration, and most nodules never need one. It also says nothing about whether the gland is working, which is a blood test.
Suits: Anyone with a lump they can feel, a family history of thyroid disease, or a previous nodule being watched. Also anyone who wants the neck looked at once with a clear head about what a finding would mean.
Should not have it: Nobody, on safety grounds. The argument against it is not risk from the scan, it is what happens after a finding. If you would struggle to leave a small, low-risk nodule alone under observation, that is worth thinking about before booking rather than after.
A thyroid ultrasound looks at structure; a thyroid blood panel (free T4 and TSH) looks at function. They answer different questions and a normal result in one says nothing about the other. Every entry program on this site includes the blood panel; the ultrasound is added higher up the ladder.
Not itemised in every band this site prices. Medione includes a thyroid ultrasound outright in its B-1. Precision - Major Cancer Checkup and in its two Premium programmes, both Hanaro programmes carry it, Severance includes it from Premium upward, and KMI's SIGNATURE and NOBLE offer it as one of a choice. Where a programme leaves it out, Severance sells the scan as an add-on.
