Chest CT scan (with and without contrast)

This is two chest CT scans in one appointment: one before the dye is given, and one after. The comparison is the point — whether a spot in the lung or a mass in the chest takes up dye tells a radiologist something neither pass shows alone. It is the most expensive of the chest CT codes and carries the radiation of two acquisitions.

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What it is

A CT scanner can measure how dense a piece of tissue is, but a single number on a single scan is often ambiguous — a bright spot might be calcium, dense scar, blood, or tissue with a heavy blood supply. Scanning twice resolves that. The first pass, before any dye, records what the tissue looks like on its own. The second, after iodine dye has been injected, records what it looks like with blood flowing through it. Subtracting one from the other shows whether the area enhanced, and by how much. That behavior is a real clue to what something is, which is why this combined study is ordered for characterizing a mass rather than for finding one. Most chest CTs do not need both passes: a single scan with dye, or a single scan without, is the far more common order.

Why it is done

To characterize a mass in the lung, the chest wall, or the space between the lungs, where whether it enhances helps distinguish possibilities
To assess an adrenal or mediastinal finding that needs density measured both before and after dye
To evaluate a vascular abnormality where the unenhanced pass is needed as a baseline
To re-examine an inconclusive finding from an earlier single-pass scan

What to expect

Fasting for a few hours is typical, and an intravenous line is placed for the dye. Staff ask about kidney function, metformin, prior contrast reactions and pregnancy beforehand. The appointment is longer than a single-pass CT because the table runs through twice with an injection in between, though the actual scanning is still a matter of minutes; patients hold still and hold a breath for each pass. The injection produces a warm flush and a metallic taste that fade quickly. There is no recovery time. A radiologist compares the two sets of images and reports afterward.

Questions worth asking

Are both passes genuinely needed, or was a single-phase chest CT the intent? The three chest CT codes — without, with, and both — are priced very differently.
Is this being billed as a CT angiogram instead? That is another code again, with its own price.
If this is lung cancer screening rather than a diagnostic study, the low-dose screening scan is a different code with different coverage rules — ask which one is being ordered.
Can images from a prior chest CT at another facility be brought in for comparison, so that the unenhanced pass does not have to be repeated here?

What Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) costs by state

Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Texas — 114 hospitals, median $3,061.80
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in California — 90 hospitals, median $2,964.00
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Florida — 69 hospitals, median $5,267.33
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Ohio — 68 hospitals, median $1,633.45
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Illinois — 51 hospitals, median $2,705.60
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Virginia — 41 hospitals, median $1,947.00
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Tennessee — 38 hospitals, median $786.39
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Wisconsin — 33 hospitals, median $1,942.60
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Pennsylvania — 32 hospitals, median $1,448.40
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Washington — 32 hospitals, median $1,836.64
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Michigan — 27 hospitals, median $2,131.00
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Indiana — 26 hospitals, median $971.00
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Iowa — 26 hospitals, median $2,252.90
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Kentucky — 26 hospitals, median $2,921.40
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Georgia — 25 hospitals, median $1,918.02
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Arizona — 23 hospitals, median $679.55
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in New Jersey — 22 hospitals, median $685.48
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in New York — 22 hospitals, median $210.66
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Missouri — 20 hospitals, median $1,313.65
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Minnesota — 19 hospitals, median $2,644.00
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Colorado — 17 hospitals, median $7,422.35
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Oklahoma — 17 hospitals, median $2,193.10
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in West Virginia — 17 hospitals, median $1,247.00
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in North Carolina — 15 hospitals, median $2,105.40
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Nebraska — 13 hospitals, median $1,454.00
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Oregon — 13 hospitals, median $1,107.84
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Arkansas — 11 hospitals, median $1,713.40
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Kansas — 11 hospitals, median $6,202.28
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Mississippi — 11 hospitals, median $900.45
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in South Carolina — 11 hospitals, median $1,573.80
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Maine — 7 hospitals, median $2,649.25
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in South Dakota — 7 hospitals, median $2,920.80
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Alaska — 5 hospitals, median $3,935.10
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Nevada — 4 hospitals, median $2,235.53
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in North Dakota — 4 hospitals, median $2,607.20
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Wyoming — 4 hospitals, median $1,367.40
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Hawaii — 2 hospitals, median $852.80
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Maryland — 2 hospitals, median $172.80
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Montana — 2 hospitals, median $1,961.60
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in New Mexico — 2 hospitals, median $2,887.08
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in Louisiana — 1 hospitals, median $509.34
Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost in New Hampshire — 1 hospitals, median $3,104.70

Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) prices at hospitals

See every published price for Chest CT scan (with and without contrast): the full national range, the state and hospital breakdowns, and which hospitals charge the least.

Chest CT scan (with and without contrast) cost — see all prices →

Sources

MedlinePlus: Chest CT (opens in a new tab, leaves healthcosts.net)
RadiologyInfo.org (RSNA/ACR): Computed Tomography (CT) - Chest (opens in a new tab, leaves healthcosts.net)

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