Medical Records to Bring to China: Scans, Slides & Translation (2026)

Bring one organised packet: a short case summary, your diagnoses and past operations, a medication list with generic names and doses, allergies, recent lab reports, and imaging reports together with the original DICOM image files on a disc or USB drive. Then add what your specialist will ask for — pathology for a cancer review, old prescriptions for eye surgery, a CBCT scan for implants, an angiography disc for heart care, passports and a marriage certificate for IVF. Plan tissue separately: pathology slides and tissue blocks count as "special goods and articles" under China's border health-quarantine rules and need customs approval before they travel.

The core packet for any visit

The US CDC tells medical travellers to bring copies of their records, including lab and other test results, to tell staff about their allergies, and to carry a list of medicines with brand names, generic names and doses^[1]. For a Chinese hospital, assemble it like this:

Item	Chinese term	What to include
Case summary (1–2 pages)	病历摘要	Diagnosis, timeline, treatment so far and the question you want answered — ideally written or signed by your doctor
Diagnoses and past operations	既往病史 / 手术记录	Dates, operation notes, discharge summaries; cards for implants and devices such as stents, joints or pacemakers
Medication list	用药清单	Generic (INN) names, strength, dose and frequency — brand names differ between countries
Allergies	过敏史	Drugs, contrast agents, latex, foods, and the reaction you had
Recent lab results	检验报告	Original reports with their units and reference ranges
Imaging	影像报告 + 影像光盘	The written reports and the original image files
Identity document	护照 / 台胞证 / 回乡证	The document you will register with; the name should match your records

Send copies and keep the originals in your hand luggage. A bilingual one-page summary is the most useful single sheet you can carry; how to write one is in language and interpreters, and where records fit into the whole process is step 4 of how medical travel to China works.

Extras by specialty

Chinese departments set their own intake rules. The examples below come from official hospital pages and national clinical rules; always confirm with the department that will see you.

Going for	Bring	What the hospital or rule says
Cancer second opinion or MDT review	Pathology report; stained (H&E) and immunohistochemistry slides and/or paraffin blocks; imaging as DICOM; a treatment summary	The Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) in Beijing asks for slides or blocks plus the pathology report from the hospital that made the diagnosis (a photocopy is accepted), showing your name, the pathology number that matches the slides and the specimen site[4]. Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center requires the numbers on slides and blocks to match the report and will not accept immunohistochemistry slides on their own[5].
Laser eye surgery	Glasses and contact-lens prescriptions from the past two years; eye disease, injury and surgery history; drug allergies	China's 2024 national specification for lenticule-extraction (SMILE-type) surgery lists a stable prescription — a change of no more than 0.50 D a year over two years — among the criteria for surgery, and generally recommends stopping soft lenses for at least a week, toric soft and rigid gas-permeable lenses for three weeks and orthokeratology lenses for three months before assessment[7].
Dental implants	A recent panoramic X-ray and CBCT as DICOM; brand and system of any existing implants	The 2022 national guideline says implant treatment requires imaging, usually panoramic radiographs, cone-beam CT and periapical films[8]. The clinic may still take its own CBCT.
Heart care	ECGs, echocardiogram reports (and images), coronary angiography or CT disc, stent or pacemaker cards	Yunnan Fuwai Cardiovascular Hospital tells heart-surgery patients who had angiography elsewhere to bring the disc when they are admitted[9]. Fuwai Hospital in Beijing reviews detailed histories submitted through an online referral platform before arranging catheter procedures or heart surgery; submitting is not a booking[10].
IVF	Both partners' passports, the original marriage certificate, previous fertility tests and operation records	National rules require centres to check foreign nationals' passports and proof of marriage and keep copies[11]; since 2016 no birth permit is needed, only a written commitment[12]. Shandong Provincial Hospital's guide for assisted insemination asks couples to bring both partners' originals and their test reports to open a file, and treats check-up reports from the past year as a reference[13].

Imaging: bring the originals, not pictures

DICOM, not JPEG or PDF. DICOM files carry the images plus details of the patient and the scan. When a disc holds images converted to JPEG, the information needed to import them into a hospital archive — and diagnostic quality — may be lost; a disc without a file called DICOMDIR is not a DICOM disc, and a disc in a proprietary format can be replaced with a standard one by the hospital that made it^[14]. Chinese hospitals ask for the same thing: Peking University International Hospital (PKUIH) wants original DICOM files on CD or DVD, together with the imaging reports, for its teleconsultations^[2], and CAMS recommends DICOM for remote imaging review^[6].

Disc and USB, with a viewer. Discs and flash drives usually include a viewing program, and RadiologyInfo, run by two radiology societies, advises keeping a CD or flash-drive copy even when images are shared online^[15]. Bring two copies — one may stay with the hospital — and check before you fly that the files open on a computer other than your own.

Cloud links are a gamble in mainland China. UK travel advice lists Google among services permanently blocked in China and warns that other websites may sometimes be blocked^[16]. Gmail adds a trap: attachments over 25 MB are automatically replaced with a Google Drive link^[17]. Before relying on any file-sharing link, ask the hospital which route works — its own upload portal, an email size limit, or a disc carried in person.

How far back to go. We found no national rule on how old foreign results may be. China's 2022 rules oblige hospitals to accept outside results only if they passed a Chinese quality evaluation and carry an "HR" mark, which foreign results do not; for other results the rules only encourage doctors to accept them, so the treating doctor decides^[29]. For the condition you are travelling for, bring everything since diagnosis: the original pathology, the first and the latest scans, operation notes and treatment summaries. Doctors may compare new images with earlier baseline studies to follow how a disease progresses^[18], so older scans of the same area are worth carrying even if a new one is planned.

Pathology slides and tissue blocks: plan customs first

What pathology departments ask for

A cancer opinion rests on the pathology: CAMS's remote-consultation rules say a medical-oncology opinion needs a definite pathological diagnosis^[6]. CAMS accepts stained slides, immunohistochemistry slides and blocks together with the referring hospital's report (a copy is fine), returns the blocks and outside slides after the consultation, but keeps unstained slides it has used^[4]. Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center reports in about three to five working days, longer if extra immunohistochemistry is needed, and archives the unstained slides used for extra stains or molecular tests^[5].

What Chinese law says

• Approval comes first. Under the revised Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, in force since 1 January 2025, blood and other human tissue may enter or leave China only after customs grants a health-quarantine approval and the items pass inspection; moving them without one can bring a warning and fines from ¥10,000 to ¥500,000, more in serious cases^[19].
• The 2026 regulation. Customs Order No. 281 on special goods and articles, in force since 1 August 2026, replaced the 2015 rules on special articles (出入境特殊物品卫生检疫管理规定). It defines human tissue to include cells, tissues and organs. Approval must be sought before the items set off, from the directly affiliated customs office where the applicant is located; individuals may apply with identity documents, except for items that contain or may contain pathogens. Customs decides within 20 working days, extendable by 10 working days. On arrival you declare the items with the approval; items carried in without one are held, released if you obtain approval within seven days, and otherwise returned or destroyed^[20].
• Slides are explicitly listed. Customs' risk-classification table puts human tissue sections and blocks that have not been effectively inactivated in class B2 — entry needs a risk-assessment report, approvals last six months, and packaging must be triple-layered with a biosafety label — and effectively inactivated tissue sections in class C1, with twelve-month approvals^[21]. Both classes need an approval; which one fits your material is for customs to decide.
• No grace period for posted items. The 2026 rules dropped the temporary hold for posted items without an approval, citing the higher biosafety risk of the postal channel^[22]; such parcels are returned or destroyed^[20]. Do not post slides yourself; if a hospital wants them couriered, it should secure the approval first.
• How to apply. Applications go online through the customs government-services platform or China's international trade "single window"; there is no fee, and the customs hotline is 12360^[23] (a short code inside mainland China; regional customs offices also list area-code versions, such as 010-12360 for Beijing Customs^[32]). Under the 2025 baggage rules, a traveller carrying human tissue must make a written declaration and use the red channel^[24] — including when entering the mainland from Hong Kong or Macau, which customs handles as an entry^[31].
• Getting them back out. Hangzhou Customs told a patient in July 2026 that pathology slides sent abroad for personal treatment also need approval to leave China, with an identity document, a hospital diagnosis certificate and the foreign hospital's written acceptance^[25].

What to ask before you pack

1. Does the department need glass slides or blocks at all, or can it start from the report and new tests done in China?
2. Who applies for the customs approval — the hospital as the receiving institution, or you — and at which customs office? The regulation does not spell out how an applicant who lives abroad does this, so ask the hospital and the 12360 hotline.
3. Which class will customs apply, and what packaging, labels and documents are required?
4. How and when will the blocks come back, and who applies for their exit approval?
5. Can the hospital review scanned whole-slide images instead? Do not assume so: CAMS offers remote pathology consultation only to hospitals that have signed a partnership agreement with it^[6].

If you cannot get clear answers in time, you may have to travel with the reports only. Know the cost: CAMS and Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center run pathology consultations only on slides or blocks^[4][5], so with reports alone there is no pathology re-read, and the doctors must rely on your original report or on new tests in China, which may mean a new biopsy. Decide this with your oncologist before you book, and see cancer second opinion.

Lab results: keep the original units

Chinese labs report in SI units — China's national reference intervals give urea in mmol/L and creatinine in μmol/L, for example^[26] — while US reports give blood glucose in mg/dL^[27]. The numbers look nothing alike: 100 mg/dL of glucose is 5.55 mmol/L^[28]. Do not convert values yourself. Under China's 2022 rules, Chinese lab reports must state the test method and reference range^[29]; bring your original reports with their units and reference ranges too.

Expect some repeats. The same 2022 rules bar repeat tests only for results that meet their recognition conditions, and even those may be redone when they change quickly or before major procedures such as surgery or a transfusion^[29]. Foreign results have no such protection, so the treating doctor can order any test again. Recent, complete reports reduce repeats; they cannot rule them out.

Translation: what, when and for whom

• English often works in international services. PKUIH asks for clear colour scans and recommends a professional English translation for any document not in Chinese^[2]. The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University (SAHZU) runs its remote consultations in English or Chinese and issues written reports in both^[3].
• Ordinary clinics run in Chinese. There, a Chinese summary saves precious minutes. Translate the summary, the pathology and the imaging conclusions rather than the whole stack; the bilingual summary is the tool.
• Other languages. Records in languages other than English or Chinese need at least a professional English or Chinese translation of the key documents.
• Certified translation. None of the hospital pages we read asked for certified or notarised translations of clinical records — ask before paying for one. Legal documents are different: confirm in writing how a fertility centre wants a foreign marriage certificate translated and authenticated.
• Names. Your name must match your passport exactly on every translated document.

Going the other way — Chinese records translated for your doctor at home — is covered in getting your medical records translated.

Sending records ahead

Use the hospital's own channel: SAHZU's request form leads to an upload of your records^[3], PKUIH takes requests through its international patient website or by email^[2], and Fuwai has its referral platform^[10]. Our guides to online consultation before you travel and booking a hospital appointment cover the routes in detail.

Mind privacy. China's Personal Information Protection Law classes medical and health information as sensitive personal information, which may be processed only for a specific purpose, where sufficiently necessary and with strict protection, and, where consent is the legal basis, with the patient's separate consent; the law also recognises other bases, such as processing that is necessary to perform a contract with the patient or to protect life and health in an emergency^[30]. In practice, expect consent forms. Send only what the hospital needs, to official addresses, never into group chats, and keep a note of what went where. Name files plainly, for example 2026-05_MRI-brain_report.pdf.

Medicines

Bring enough of every regular medicine for the whole trip plus extra, in original packaging, with copies of the prescriptions^[1]. China's customs rules for personal medicines — and the stricter ones for controlled drugs — are in medicines and prescriptions.

Common assumptions, checked

Assumption	What the sources say
"Slides are just paperwork — they can go in hand luggage."	Human tissue needs customs approval before it crosses the border[19][20].
"A Google Drive link is enough."	Google services are blocked in mainland China[16].
"The report is enough; nobody needs the images."	Hospitals ask for original DICOM files[2][6].
"Everything must be translated and notarised."	Not for clinical records on the hospital pages we read; legal documents for IVF are the exception to check.
"My results will be accepted as they are."	The treating doctor decides, and repeats are allowed[29].

Next steps

• Ask for a remote review before you fly: online consultation before travel.
• Book the visit: how to book a hospital appointment in China.
• Draft a bilingual cover email with the inquiry letter tool.
• Put records on your timeline with the planning checklist, and collect everything before you leave China with medical records and follow-up.
• Find hospitals for a cancer second opinion or browse the hospital directory.
• Let the CareAtlas planner fit records, treatment and travel into one plan.