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 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.
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.
