The difference between starting treatment three days after you land and starting three weeks after you land is usually paperwork you either brought or did not. Repeat investigations are the most avoidable cost in medical travel, and the most common reason for them is that the original material was left at home.

Bring the raw material, not just the report

A report is somebody's interpretation. Doctors reviewing your case want the underlying data, because a second opinion that simply re-reads the first opinion is not a second opinion.

Imaging: bring the disc. CT, MRI and PET scans should travel as DICOM files on a CD, DVD or USB drive, not as printed films. A radiologist can window, reconstruct and measure from DICOM; from a printed film they can only look. Ask your imaging centre for "the DICOM data" specifically — most will supply it free on request.

Pathology: bring the blocks or slides. This matters most in cancer. Indian pathologists will usually review your original slides themselves and, where needed, run additional immunohistochemistry on the paraffin block. If you bring only the typed report, expect a repeat biopsy — which costs money, costs a week, and is unpleasant. Ask your hospital's pathology department to release the blocks; they are generally obliged to. Our cancer treatment page explains why the molecular detail changes the whole protocol.

The core file

• Discharge summaries from any previous admission, especially previous surgery
• Operative notes if you have had related surgery before — for revision cases this is essential
• Recent blood work, within about six weeks
• A written list of current medications with doses, including anything herbal or over the counter
• Allergy history, particularly to anaesthetic agents, contrast and antibiotics
• For cardiac cases: angiogram disc and echocardiogram report. See cardiac surgery
• For spine cases: the MRI disc, not the report alone. See spine surgery
• Implant cards from any previous device — pacemaker, joint, spinal hardware

What will be repeated anyway, and why

Expect fresh bloods, and expect staging scans older than about six weeks to be repeated for cancer, because treatment planning from stale imaging is unsafe. Anaesthetic workup is always done locally. None of this is a hospital padding the bill; it is the minimum needed to operate safely.

What should not be repeated: a diagnostic biopsy where the block is available, or a recent high-quality MRI where the DICOM data has travelled with you. If those are being repeated, ask why, and expect a clinical answer.

Practical handling

Scan everything to PDF and keep it in cloud storage as well as on paper — discs get damaged and bags go missing. Email the file ahead so the opinion and quote are ready before you fly; that is the whole point of sending records in advance, and it is covered on our page about reading a hospital quote.

Carry the physical slides and discs in hand luggage. Airport X-ray does not damage either, but checked baggage sometimes disappears, and a paraffin block cannot be re-created after the fact.

Finally, bring translations if your records are not in English. A one-page summary translated properly is worth more than fifty pages nobody can read.