Scans and tests in India

Which test does what

A recurring and expensive mistake is arranging the wrong test, or arranging several when one would have answered the question. In brief:

• Ultrasound. No radiation, quick, inexpensive, and excellent for the liver, gallbladder, kidneys, thyroid, pelvis and pregnancy. Poor for anything behind bone or gas.
• CT. Fast and detailed for chest, abdomen and bone, and the workhorse of cancer staging. Uses X-rays, and contrast dye is often needed, which requires reasonable kidney function.
• MRI. No radiation, and far better than CT for the brain and spinal cord, joints and ligaments, the pelvis, and soft tissue generally. Slower, noisier, and unsuitable for some implants, so declare any metal in your body.
• PET-CT. Shows metabolic activity rather than only structure, so it finds cancer deposits that look normal on other scans. Used for staging and for assessing response to treatment, not as a general screening tool.
• Endoscopy and colonoscopy. Direct vision of the gut lining, and the only way to take a tissue sample from it.
• Biopsy. The only test that proves what something is. No scan diagnoses cancer; scans raise suspicion and biopsies settle it.

A PET scan is not a check-up. People sometimes ask for one as a way of screening themselves for cancer. It is not designed for that, it produces false positives that lead to further invasive tests, and it involves a meaningful radiation dose. If what you want is general reassurance, a structured health check is the appropriate thing and a PET scan is not.

Get your existing images reviewed first

This is the most useful thing on the page. Radiology is interpretation, and a second read by a subspecialist radiologist, someone who reads only neuro imaging, or only musculoskeletal, or only oncology, genuinely changes conclusions in a proportion of cases.

So before booking travel or paying for a repeat scan, send what you already have. Three possible outcomes, all of them useful: the existing images answer the question and no new scan is needed; the existing images are adequate but need a specialist read; or the images are technically inadequate and a repeat is genuinely justified, in which case you now know exactly which one.

How to send images properly

1. Ask the imaging centre for the DICOM files, on a CD or a USB drive, or via a download link. This is the actual scan data, not a picture of it.
2. Photographs of a screen or a printed film are not adequate for a proper read, though they are better than nothing for an initial view.
3. Include the written report as well as the images, and any previous scans for comparison. Change over time is often more informative than a single snapshot.
4. Include the pathology if a biopsy has been done. If treatment decisions are involved, the actual slides or blocks may be requested for review.
5. Label everything with your name and date of birth, and say plainly what question you want answered.

If you are coming for treatment anyway

Two practical points that save time and money.

First, expect some tests to be repeated on arrival. This is not a way of adding to the bill: surgical and oncology teams need imaging of a known standard, taken recently, sometimes with a specific protocol, and blood results have a short shelf life. The pre-operative investigations excluded from every package price on this site are largely these. Ask which of your existing tests will be accepted so you can plan.

Second, if a diagnosis has not yet been established, build time for it into your trip. A biopsy takes days to report, and specialist immunohistochemistry or molecular testing takes longer. Arriving expecting surgery in the same week as a first biopsy is usually unrealistic.

On cost

The partner price list this site publishes from covers procedures rather than individual scans, so we have no PET, MRI or CT prices to quote and will not estimate them. The one diagnostic item on the list is an oncology evaluation at an indicative $800, which is a full assessment rather than a single scan.

What is worth saying is that imaging and pathology in India are generally a fraction of what they cost privately in Western countries, which is why some patients travel specifically for a diagnostic work-up before deciding where to be treated. If that is your plan, say so at the consultation and ask for the whole work-up to be quoted as one estimate rather than test by test.

Related

• Health check packages in India
• Getting a second opinion
• Cancer treatment in India
• All treatments in India