In recent years, celebrities like Kim Kardashian have taken them to social media to promote the supposed benefits of full-body MRI scans. The services provider promises that the scan will be able to find a variety of conditions, including cancer, aneurysms, liver disease, and multiple sclerosis in an hour. Additionally, businesses encourage clients to return regularly to check their health if their initial scan is clearly visible.
But is a full body MRI really a silver bullet or just an expensive health trend?
For most people, full-body MRI scans aren’t unnecessary and can actually lead to their own problems, according to Dr. Matthew Davenport, a professor of radiology at the University of Michigan.
You might like it
Structural MRI scans visualize the inside of your body using magnetic fields and radio waves. They render detailed 3D images of internal anatomy and can help detect a variety of conditions, including thrombosis, musculoskeletal damage, tumors, neurological or cardiovascular issues. However, doctors usually only order these scans if they already suspect something is wrong based on their individual symptoms, medical history, and other test results.
In some circumstances, doctors may recommend a full-body MRI for certain patients as a precaution, Davenport said. However, this generally occurs only when a patient is diagnosed with a rare disorder at a high risk of developing cancer. Such conditions include Li-Fraumeni syndrome, a genetic disorder that increases the risk of developing cancer at an early age.
The idea is that regular scans could detect lesions in these high-risk individuals and flag them for further testing. But for people without such a condition, there is little reason to get regular full-body MRI, Davenport said.
“There is no scientific evidence that whole-body MRI in asymptomatic average-risk patients improves health,” he told Live Science via email.
In fact, he said that a full-body MRI can actually do more harm than good. This is because tests that can be used to diagnose, such as MRI scans, are likely to discover accidental findings.
An incidental finding is an unexpected outcome that arises from a medical test ordered for another reason. For example, a person may get an MRI of an injured rib and then pop up a suspicious mass on the scan. Sometimes these findings refer to previously undiagnosed conditions that require treatment. But more often, they are calm anomalies of the body that pose no threat.
Related: 10 Most Fatal Cancers, and Why There Are No Treatments
Estimates suggest that approximately 15% to 30% of diagnostic imaging tests cause at least one incidental finding. This means that those who regularly get a full-body MRI may find abnormalities in their bodies that may not show serious health issues.
“The majority of findings identified by systemic MRI in patients without specific risk factors are consequences where they are not detected, are not improving health,” Davenport said.
Nevertheless, it may be unclear whether accidental findings are important without further testing. So these results can encourage additional diagnostic tests, biopsy procedures and even unnecessary surgeries, not to mention the health anxiety associated with those procedures. For this reason, Davenport argues that ordering too many medical imaging tests from healthy people is likely to backfire.
Currently, there is no major healthcare community that recommends full-body MRI for people who are not at high risk for cancer. Davenport also pointed out that companies offering full-body MRIs benefit from a highly profitable business model where clients pay on-board on tests.
Full-body MRIs typically cost between $1,000 and $4,000 or more, depending on the provider you provide and the specific services you have. Some insurance plans may cover full-body MRIs in high-risk individuals, but scans are selective for most people and are not supported by clinical guidelines and are generally not covered by US private or government insurance.
On the one hand, full-body MRI can stimulate health anxiety and lead to potential overtreatment, but in some people, they may also provide false sense of security, Davenport suggested. In many medical conditions such as colon and blood cancers, MRIS is not used as a major diagnostic tool as scans do not necessarily pick up the disease. Davenport recommended not relying on a whole-body MRI, but sticking to the general public with established medical screening procedures recommended by physicians.
“We could see a future where full-body MRI-like imaging is used for everyday screening,” Davenport said. “But before that, there’s a lot of research needed.”
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice.
Source link
