Traveling to Taiwan for Thyroid Ablation: A Guide for International Patients

Step 1: Contact the team before travelling

The first step is an email, not a flight booking. Writing before you travel allows your existing records to be looked at and your visit to be planned around what you already have, rather than repeating investigations unnecessarily.

Email [email protected] and include as much of the following as you can:

• Your name
• Country of residence
• Age
• Your thyroid diagnosis, and what symptoms if any the nodule causes
• Thyroid ultrasound report — and the images themselves, if you have them
• Fine-needle aspiration or biopsy cytology reports
• Thyroid function blood test results
• Previous treatment history, including any earlier surgery, aspiration or ablation
• A current medication list, particularly anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents
• Your preferred travel dates

Step 2: Preliminary review and visit planning

Once your records have been reviewed, you will receive an indication of what your visit is likely to involve — which investigations you already have that can be used, which are likely to need repeating in Taiwan, and roughly how the sequence of appointments would work.

Ultrasound images matter here. A written report describes what another physician saw; the images allow the nodule's size, structure, position and blood supply to be assessed directly, which is what determines whether ablation is a realistic option. Where only a report is available, expect that ultrasound will be repeated on arrival.

Formal medical decisions still follow the in-person evaluation. The purpose of this step is to avoid the situation where a patient travels a long distance for a procedure that turns out not to be indicated.

Step 3: First visit at Chi Mei Medical Center

Your first appointment is with the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Chi Mei Medical Center, Yongkang campus, Tainan. It covers:

• Consultation and history
• Thyroid ultrasound, performed and interpreted in clinic
• Review of the records and images you have brought from abroad
• Additional examinations where required — thyroid function tests, coagulation screening, vocal cord examination, and fine-needle aspiration cytology if the nodule has not been adequately confirmed benign
• A decision on whether ablation is appropriate, and if so which modality suits the nodule

Assessing a thyroid nodule properly takes longer than a routine clinic visit, because the ultrasound examination and its interpretation form the substance of the consultation. Clinic hours, the hospital address and registration details are on the appointment page.

Step 4: The ablation visit

If the evaluation supports treatment, the ablation is scheduled for a subsequent day. Which technique is used depends on the nodule, not on patient preference:

The mechanisms and evidence for each are set out in the complete guide to thyroid ablation. Procedures are usually scheduled in the morning, starting as early as 08:30 with check-in 30 minutes beforehand, so plan to be in Tainan the night before. Instructions on medication to stop two weeks in advance, what to eat on the day and what to bring are on the before and after care page — the stopping of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents in particular needs to be planned well ahead of your flight.

How long should I stay in Taiwan?

International patients should allow several days. Because evaluation and treatment take place on different days, and because further testing may be needed in between, a single overnight stay is not a realistic plan.

Additional time may be required if repeat cytology or additional testing is necessary, as results take several days to return. How long you need depends mostly on what investigations you already have: if your nodule has already been confirmed benign at a reputable centre and you bring the reports and images, the timeline can be shorter than if that work has to be done here.

Do I need to stay in hospital?

No. Thyroid ablation is a day-case outpatient procedure performed under local anaesthesia, with no admission. The procedure itself takes about one to two hours depending on nodule size, and you are observed for approximately 30 minutes afterwards before going home. Including check-in and observation, allow half a day to a full day at the hospital.

Can I fly home immediately?

Return travel should be arranged according to how the treatment goes and the advice of the treating physician, rather than to a fixed number of hours. No specific interval can be promised in advance.

Neck swelling, discomfort or temporary hoarseness can occur after ablation and are usually transient, but they are easier to assess in person than at a distance. Leaving a margin between the procedure and a long flight — and ideally a short review before departure — is the more prudent plan. Discuss your intended travel dates with the team before the procedure so the schedule can be looked at together.

Traveling to Tainan

Chi Mei Medical Center's Yongkang campus is in Tainan, in southern Taiwan.

• Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) handles most long-haul arrivals. Kaohsiung International Airport is the nearer alternative for some regional routes, roughly 50 km from Tainan.
• Taiwan High Speed Rail connects the north of the island to Tainan; the journey from Taipei takes under two hours.
• Tainan HSR Station is about a 20-minute taxi ride from the hospital.
• Conventional railway: Daqiao Station is a three-minute walk from the hospital.
• Local transport: taxis are widely available. On-site parking is very limited and usually full after 09:00, so a taxi or public transport is recommended on the day of your appointment.

Full address and contact details are on the appointment page.

Follow-up after returning home

Ablation shrinks a nodule progressively over months rather than removing it, so follow-up is part of the treatment rather than an optional extra. Ultrasound follow-up is normally scheduled at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, to assess volume reduction, residual blood flow, symptom improvement and whether a further session is worth considering.

• Ultrasound follow-up remains important wherever you live
• Portions of follow-up may sometimes be coordinated with your local physician, depending on individual circumstances and on whether images and measurements can be shared
• Additional review at Chi Mei Medical Center may still be recommended, particularly if a second session is under consideration

Correspondence before and after your visit can be handled by email.

Why consider Chi Mei Medical Center?

• A major medical center in southern Taiwan, with thyroid nodules managed by the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
• Dr. Mei-Chen Yeh, attending physician in that division, who performs the ultrasound assessment, the ablation and the follow-up
• More than 300 thyroid minimally invasive ablation procedures performed to date
• RFA, MWA and PEI all available, so the technique can be matched to the nodule
• Consultations with international patients conducted in English, with arrangements made by email
• Transparent self-pay pricing, published on the thyroid RFA cost page

Whether ablation is the right choice at all — rather than surgery or continued surveillance — is a separate question, discussed in thyroid RFA vs surgery.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated: 5 September 2026