Do You *Really* Need A Whole-Body Scan?

In Canada, eligibility for medical screenings is based on factors like age, sex and family history. But privately owned, for-profit clinics across the country offer whole-body MRI scans that can purportedly catch and treat abnormalities earlier. The price tag? Anywhere from $3,000 to $3,500.

Are these scans worth the steep cost? Two Canadian doctors weigh in.

Why get a whole-body scan?

“The most common reason people do this is because they think it will find early-stage cancers,” says Dr. Lauren Lapointe-Shaw, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and a general internal medicine physician at Toronto’s University Health Network.

But she cautions that, for most people, the risks overall outweigh the benefits. “Quite often, ‘incidental findings’—meaning things that are variants of normal—get picked up,” she says. “This can lead to a cascade of other tests for what most often are benign findings.” In fact, a 2010 literature review from the British Journal of Radiology found that on average, 23 percent of diagnostic imaging resulted in at least one incidental finding.

What other risks and concerns can these scans pose?

Further testing can lead to complications, says Lapointe-Shaw. In rare cases, biopsies can cause infections, while additional screening, like CT scans, exposes the body to radiation that can, over a lifetime, increase the risk of developing cancers. This is not to mention the stress and anxiety that can be triggered when an abnormality is found.

On the flipside, Dr. Ania Kielar, a radiologist at the Joint Department of Medical Imaging at the University Health Network and the past president of the Canadian Association of Radiologists, says that whole-body scans can give people a false sense of security. “If they don’t see a small lesion, that doesn’t mean it’s not there,” Kielar says.

Targeted screening, say, of the brain or the liver, involves the use of specialized equipment inside the MRI or injected contrast solutions that help to see areas of tissue in better detail. Generalized whole-body scans aren’t able to achieve this level of specificity. So someone who gets the all-clear on their whole-body scan could end up skipping their regular mammogram, for instance.

And while whole-body scans are done in private clinics, the follow-up tests on incidental findings are typically performed in the public system, increasing wait times for other sick and symptomatic people.

Can whole-body scans prevent illnesses?

Both Lapointe-Shaw and Kielar say these scans don’t prevent diseases or make them more treatable. We might feel swayed by website testimonies or celebrity stories of cancers caught (both former NBA star Dwyane Wade and TV host Maria Menounos say their cancers were detected via whole- body scans). “But what they don’t talk about is the large number of patients who spent thousands of dollars, found something incidental and end up with infections or other potential complications,” Kielar says.

What’s the bottom line on whole-body scans?

According to Kielar, the cost of a whole-body scan is better spent on changes that we know improve quality of life, like exercise, eating well and sleeping more. “These are simple things you can do that don’t hurt you or anybody else.”