Elbow MRI Cost: Tennis Elbow, UCL & MR Arthrogram Prices 2026

Elbow MRI is a focused, relatively quick scan that drives a lot of sports-medicine and orthopaedic referrals, particularly in throwing athletes and racquet-sport players. UK private prices start at £249, Vista Health's flat national rate. US prices span $400 at a freestanding imaging centre to $4,500 at a hospital outpatient department for the identical scan code.

What an elbow MRI shows

The elbow joint is the articulation between the humerus, ulna and radius, surrounded by an extensive complex of ligaments (notably the ulnar and radial collateral ligaments), tendons (common flexor and extensor origins, distal biceps, distal triceps), and nerves (ulnar nerve at the cubital tunnel, radial nerve in the radial tunnel, median nerve crossing the joint). Per Radiopaedia's elbow MRI protocol article, standard non-contrast protocol uses sagittal, coronal and axial T1 plus fat-saturated PD sequences.

The radiologist reports on tendon integrity (with attention to common-extensor-origin pathology for tennis elbow and common-flexor-origin pathology for golfer's elbow), ligament integrity (especially UCL for throwers), articular-surface cartilage, any osteochondral lesions, loose bodies in the joint, ulnar-nerve cross-sectional area at the cubital tunnel, and bone-marrow signal in the distal humerus and proximal radius and ulna.

MR arthrogram changes what is visible by distending the joint capsule with dilute gadolinium, which makes partial-thickness UCL tears, intra-articular loose bodies, and subtle osteochondral lesions much easier to detect. For the population of throwing athletes (baseball pitchers, cricket bowlers, javelin throwers) considered for surgical UCL reconstruction (Tommy John surgery), MR arthrogram is essentially standard pre-operative workup.

UK elbow MRI pricing

UK private elbow MRI without contrast, verified June 2026: Vista Health charges a flat national rate for any single body part, £249 off-peak or £360 standard (£380 fast-track), report included; Scan.com's end-to-end package starts at £305 including the clinical referral. Hospital groups (Nuffield, Spire, Bupa) and Welbeck (formerly OneWelbeck) price per hospital or on enquiry. Self-referral is accepted at Vista Health and Scan.com; the hospital groups and Welbeck require a referral.

MR arthrogram of the elbow is more specialised and is offered at fewer centres. The only published UK national price is Vista Health's fixed £795 for an MR arthrogram (vista-health.co.uk, June 2026); Nuffield, Spire and Welbeck quote the procedure individually per hospital. The injection portion requires an experienced musculoskeletal radiologist or sports physician.

For UK NHS patients, elbow MRI is free with referral. Routine waits run 6 to 18 weeks. Throwing-athlete UCL workups are usually expedited through sports-medicine or orthopaedic upper-limb clinics, which may have shorter wait pathways.

US elbow MRI pricing

FAIR Health Consumer price-lookup data for CPT 73221 in major US metros in early 2026 shows median cash-pay rate at an independent imaging centre around $650 and at a hospital outpatient department around $2,300. The freestanding-to-hospital gap consistently runs 3x to 6x for the same scan code.

For commercial-insurance patients with a met deductible, typical out-of-pocket is $50 to $400 after pre-authorisation. For high-deductible plans before deductible is met, the negotiated in-network rate applies and freestanding centres usually beat hospitals by 60 to 80 percent. For uninsured patients, the independent-centre cash-pay rate is the cheapest route.

For US baseball pitchers and other throwing athletes, elbow MR arthrogram for UCL evaluation is commonly part of pre-surgical workup before Tommy John reconstruction. Total cash-pay bundled pricing for MR arthrogram typically runs $1,100 to $2,400 at an independent musculoskeletal-imaging centre and $3,500 to $7,500 at a hospital outpatient department. The savings from choosing a freestanding MSK-imaging specialist over a hospital are often several thousand dollars per scan for this procedure.

Sources used on this page

• CMS Physician Fee Schedule, 2026
• FAIR Health Consumer CPT 73221 pricing
• Radiopaedia elbow MRI protocol
• ACR Appropriateness Criteria, chronic elbow pain
• Vista Health published national pricing (vista-health.co.uk) and Scan.com package pricing (uk.scan.com), verified June 2026; Nuffield, Spire, Bupa and Welbeck price per hospital or on enquiry

Related scans