Health
Are full-body scans worth the money? Doctors share what you should know
With celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton singing the praises of full-body MRI scans, a growing number of people are coughing up the cash for the preventive measure — but is the peace of mind worth the hefty price tag?
Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, more commonly known as “Dr. Mike,” is a podcaster and primary care physician in New Jersey. He recently spoke about full-body scans with Andrew Lacy, CEO of Prenuvo, one of the biggest providers of full-body scans.
“I have to say, I’m certainly intrigued by the technology and I’m in love with the concept of catching diseases earlier so that we can have more success with treatment,” Dr. Mike said during the podcast.
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“However, I am still not sold that this is what the Prenuvo scan has proven to deliver. In the day and age where we find ourselves, folks want more out of healthcare than we can yet deliver.”
How do full-body scans work?
Full-body scans use different technologies, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) or positron emission tomography (PET), according to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Full-body scans use a variety of technologies, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) or positron emission tomography (PET). (iStock)
The goal is to detect early signs of diseases such as cancer, heart disease and other abnormalities.
Dr. Daniel Durand, chief medical officer at Prenuvo, who is based in Maryland, compared the scan to a “virtual physical” in which a radiologist examines the inside of the body in a way that a traditional annual physical cannot.
Prenuvo’s scan uses MRI technology to collect a “vast amount of health data,” he told Fox News Digital.
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“Two licensed providers analyze this data, explain its relevance directly to you and offer you guidance on the next steps necessary to optimize your health,” he said.
Insurance does not typically cover whole-body scans.
“Coverage usually varies widely by insurance plan, jurisdiction, and the specific clinical guidelines for each genetic condition,” Dr. Mike told Fox News Digital.
A chief medical officer compared the scan to a “virtual physical” in which a radiologist examines the inside of the body in a way that a traditional annual physical cannot do. (Prenuvo)
“My general understanding is that for screening purposes, the test is usually not covered, given the lack of documented clinical benefit versus harms.”
Some coverage may be offered, however, for those with high-risk genetic syndromes or other specific medical conditions, the doctor noted.
“Our hope is that over time, insurers will see the many benefits of our proactive approach to healthcare and will broaden coverage,” Prenuvo’s Durand said.
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“We are actively engaged in several research studies that could provide a foundation for insurance reimbursement.”
Depending on the provider and options selected, prices for full-body scans can be as high as $2,500.
The two biggest providers of full-body scans are Prenuvo (headquartered in California) and Ezra (based in New York City).
Potential benefits
Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida neurologist and longevity expert, previously spoke with Fox News Digital about the benefits of full-body MRI scans.
“Full-body scanning, mainly through MRI, presents a significant advancement in modern medicine’s diagnostic capabilities,” he said.
“In many cases, the earliest signs of diseases — like cancers, infections or aneurysms — will be seen.”
“MRI technology allows for a comprehensive, noninvasive examination of the body to detect a wide range of conditions, including cancer and vascular malformations like aneurysms, without the need for potentially harmful radiation, as is the case with CT scans,” he also said.
Durand claimed that a Prenuvo scan can detect many diseases based on changes to the inside of the body that can be detected by MRI.
“Usually these changes happen before symptoms occur or before there are signs on a physical exam,” he told Fox News Digital.
“MRI technology allows for a comprehensive, noninvasive examination of the body to detect a wide range of conditions, including cancer and vascular malformations like aneurysms, without the need for potentially harmful X-rays, as is the case with CT scans,” one neurosurgeon said. (iStock)
“So, in many cases, the earliest signs of diseases — like cancers, infections or aneurysms — will be seen,” he went on. “By seeing them earlier, you can be treated earlier, hopefully before the disease has done little to no permanent damage.”
Doctors share concerns
Dr. Mike told Fox News Digital that he has not recommended that any of his patients get an MRI screening scan.
“The high upfront cost and lack of clear medical indication for broad screening (if you’re low-risk and asymptomatic) lead me to agree with the major medical organizations that routine whole-body MRI screening for the general population is not recommended,” he said.
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Much of the popularity of these scans has been driven by celebrities, who sometimes receive them for free, Dr. Mike said — which he finds concerning.
“My understanding is that even receiving a free scan is a business relationship that the FTC requires disclosing,” he said. “My understanding is that the companies themselves cannot claim their tests save lives, so they work with celebs who can make personal claims that are not subject to the same investigational scrutiny.”
“With the current level of technology, I am against full-body scans in favor of more directed workups initiated by expert physicians who know what they are looking for,” one doctor told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
“This also sends a conflicting message to the consumer and creates confusion.”
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Health and Fox News’ senior medical analyst, also does not recommend these scans to patients.
“If you do a full-body scan, you will be inclined to pursue every positive finding, whether they are really significant or not.”
“With the current level of technology, I am against full-body scans in favor of more directed workups initiated by expert physicians who know what they are looking for,” he told Fox News Digital.
“If you do a full-body scan, you will be inclined to pursue every positive finding, whether they are really significant or not.”
Siegel also noted the high expense and the fact that full-body scans are “frequently oversensitive.”
One doctor warned of mental risks, including anxiety during the procedure (claustrophobia), stress from incidental findings and an increase in health-related worries. (iStock)
“They may take the place of more directed, accurate studies and screening tests that are more suited to the symptoms, history and genetic tests in specific patients,” Siegel cautioned.
The doctor also noted the current shift toward more personalized healthcare approaches, “augmented by not just genetics, but also artificial intelligence.”
“This will lead to more directed workups, not to more full-body scans.”
The most significant risks that come with these full-body scans, according to Dr. Mike, are the issues that arise with false positives, overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
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There are also mental risks, including anxiety during the procedure (claustrophobia), stress from incidental findings and an increase in health-related worries, the doctor noted.
“Some proponents say it can ease health-related anxiety; however, I am pretty skeptical of that claim,” he said. “Based on my clinical experience, even getting a clear scan would secure peace of mind only temporarily.”
“We don’t know if we are saving more people by catching disease early or harming more people with overdiagnosis, false positives and overtreatment.”
Research published in 2020 found that imaging abnormalities are expected in about 95% of screened subjects, according to the doctor.
“This means the majority of those scanned will have some sort of finding presented to them,” he said. “I can’t imagine how helpful that would be to someone already prone to health worries.”
During Dr. Mike’s podcast interview with Lacy, the Prenuvo CEO said that long-term data on these screening scans is not yet available.
“So, currently, we don’t know if we are saving more people by catching disease early or harming more people with overdiagnosis, false positives and overtreatment,” Dr. Mike said.
“Barring emergencies, if I don’t have clear data about the harms and benefits of an intervention, especially one that is meant to be used on healthy people, I cannot widely recommend it.”
“Before having a CT screening procedure, carefully investigate and consider the potential risks and benefits and discuss them with your physician,” the FDA advised. (iStock)
Prenuvo did cite a recent study of over 1,000 patients who were followed over a one-year period.
“In this sample, we found pathologically-proven cancer in 2.2% of Prenuvo patients,” Durand told Fox News Digital. “Importantly, most of these cancers were early stage, and the majority were cancer types for which there is no widely accepted screening exam.”
Guidelines of health agencies
The most recent guidance from the FDA echoes the doctors’ concerns.
“At this time, the FDA knows of no scientific evidence demonstrating that whole-body scanning of individuals without symptoms provides more benefit than harm to people being screened,” the agency stated on its website.
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The FDA also warned about the “relatively high radiation exposure” from CT scans. While this exposure risk is “greatly outweighed” by the benefits of diagnostic and therapeutic scans, the agency said that for whole-body screening of asymptomatic people, “the benefits are questionable.”
“Before having a CT screening procedure, carefully investigate and consider the potential risks and benefits and discuss them with your physician,” the FDA advised.
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) also recommends against full-body scans for early tumor detection in asymptomatic patients.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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