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Scans and tests your GP or consultant may recommend for Dizziness and balance problems

This is information about which scans and tests may be used to assess Dizziness and balance problems, and what each one is: not a recommendation. Your clinician decides which scan or test, if any, you need. Prices below are typical UK private ranges; enter your postcode to see the NHS wait near you.

Vertigo is the feeling that you, or the world around you, is spinning or moving when it is not. About dizziness and balance problems and NHS waits →

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Examination and bedside tests first
Dizziness and balance problems are assessed from your symptoms and bedside balance tests, such as moving the head into set positions. These are tests, not scans.
Hearing and balance tests
Hearing and balance tests are sometimes arranged to look for an inner-ear cause. They are tests, not scans.
Pure-tone audiometry measures the quietest sounds you can hear across a range of pitches, played through headphones. It is a test rather than an imaging scan.
How long: Usually 20 to 40 minutes.
Good for: Measuring the type and degree of hearing loss.
MRI
Used only if a cause in the brain or hearing nerve is suspected, not for typical positional vertigo.
An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to build detailed pictures of soft tissues such as muscles, ligaments, cartilage, discs and the brain. It uses no radiation.
How long: Usually 15 to 45 minutes, lying still inside a tunnel-shaped scanner.
Good for: Soft-tissue and joint detail: ligament and cartilage injuries, the spine and discs, and the brain.
Typical UK private cost: £300 to £1145. Usually bookable within days.

Sources: NICE CKS, NHS.

See the wait and price near you

Enter your postcode for the NHS wait at your nearest hospital and the private price range from clinics within 25 miles.

All conditions, scans and tests →MRI waits by hospital →All NHS waiting times →

Wait or Pay is independent and is not the NHS. NHS waits are from DM01 diagnostics data. Nothing here is medical advice; your clinician decides which scan, if any, you need.

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