PET CT Scan Cost in Chennai, India

The cost of a PET-CT scan in Chennai typically ranges from $510 to $4,900 USD (about ₹48,400 to ₹4.65 lakh), depending on the hospital, room category and type of procedure.

A typical estimate for a PET-CT scan in Chennai is around $1,650 (about ₹1.57 lakh). What you pay depends mainly on your own case. If you have a standard scan or scope without sedation, your bill is likely to be closer to $510 (about ₹48,400). It is likely to be nearer $4,900 (about ₹4.65 lakh) if contrast, a tracer, sedation or a biopsy is needed.

When comparing Chennai packages for a PET-CT scan, check whether each quote includes:

• Specialist consultation
• The test or session itself
• The written report or review
• Any repeat sessions or follow-up

PET-CT brings two types of scan together at one appointment, PET mapping tissue activity with a little radioactive tracer and CT showing the body's structure, and cancer teams rely on it heavily for staging.

Before an FDG scan, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust allows nothing but plain water for six hours, and asks anyone with diabetes to ring the department ahead because blood glucose has to be kept low.

The visit takes approximately two hours: after the injection you rest for 60 to 90 minutes, and the scan itself lasts 10 to 20 minutes.

Doctors use PET-CT to confirm or exclude a diagnosis, to find out how far a cancer has spread and to see whether treatment is working.

The trust advises drinking plenty of fluids and keeping away from pregnant women and small children for six hours, and the report generally reaches the referring doctor in one to two weeks.

Fitness to fly: scans and scopes rarely delay a flight, but do not fly on a day you had sedation, and keep a day or two spare in Chennai in case further tests are advised.

In Chennai, the price of a PET-CT scan is generally built from these parts:

• Sedation: if you need it.
• Report: who reads and signs off the images.
• Tracer: generally FDG, sometimes others.
• Scan area: whole body or one region.
• Reporting: by a nuclear medicine specialist.
• Setting: hospital or diagnostic centre.

One scan is generally priced well below the upper figure above, so it makes sense to ask whether the Chennai price includes the tracer, the written report and a specialist review.

Scans and diagnostic scopes in Chennai are offered by hospital departments and stand-alone centres, and a hospital is more convenient if a biopsy or treatment might be needed.

Hospitals in Chennai can hold NABH accreditation, India's national quality standard set by a board of the Quality Council of India and itself accredited by ISQua, and the NABH website shows whether an accreditation is still valid.

Joint Commission International (JCI) accredits a number of Indian hospitals, and its public directory lets you check whether a Chennai hospital on your shortlist is currently included.

Chennai was called Madras until the Tamil Nadu government changed the name in 1996, so older documents and some hospital paperwork may still use the earlier name.