Ultrasound scan costs in Korea
Thyroid, carotid, and soft-tissue ultrasound prices at Korean hospitals, and why the same word covers studies that differ several-fold in price.
5 min read
Ultrasound is the workhorse of Korean health screening: quick, no radiation, and used to look at almost everything soft. It is also one word covering studies that differ several-fold in price, which is where quotes stop matching expectations.
The scans people actually book
| Procedure | Median | Range | Hospitals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thyroid ultrasound | ₩80,000 $58 | ₩10,000 – ₩255,000 | 1259 |
| Carotid Doppler ultrasound | ₩110,000 $79 | ₩20,000 – ₩350,000 | 1105 |
| Soft tissue ultrasound | ₩70,000 $50 | ₩10,000 – ₩250,000 | 1114 |
| Simple ultrasound (grade II) | ₩36,870 $27 | ₩10,000 – ₩250,000 | 806 |
| Simple ultrasound (grade I) | ₩30,000 $22 | ₩5,250 – ₩219,530 | 644 |
Thyroid ultrasound is close to routine in Korean screening. Thyroid nodules are common and mostly harmless, and the scan is how they are found.
Carotid Doppler looks at blood flow in the neck arteries and is used as a stroke-risk screen. It appears in most comprehensive screening packages for anyone over about fifty.
Soft tissue ultrasound is the musculoskeletal one — a shoulder, a suspected tear, a lump someone wants looked at.
Why “simple” is cheaper, and what you lose
Korea grades ultrasound by how much of an examination it is. A simple study answers one narrow question and is billed accordingly. A full diagnostic study of a named organ is a different examination with a different price.
If a quote seems low against the figures above, it is worth asking which grade you are being booked for. Neither is wrong; they are answers to different questions.
| Procedure | Median | Range | Hospitals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultrasound guidance (grade I) | ₩60,000 $43 | ₩10,000 – ₩188,000 | 488 |
| Ultrasound guidance (grade II) | ₩95,815 $69 | ₩10,000 – ₩600,000 | 564 |
How this fits a screening package
Comprehensive screening packages bundle several scans and are priced as a whole by each hospital, outside the disclosure this site draws on. The figures above are the individual component prices — useful for estimating a package, and useful for checking whether a package is good value.
The health screening guide works through that in detail.
Full distributions and the hospitals behind them are on the ultrasound category page.
Figures on this page are read from the published disclosure data at build time, so they match the price pages exactly. This is general information about published prices, not medical advice, and it does not recommend any hospital. Confirm any figure with the hospital before treatment.