We Tried Prenuvo's $2,500 MRI Scan. Here's What We Learned and Why It's Not for Everyone

Fact checked by Nick Blackmer

Key Takeaways

• Prenuvo offers a full-body MRI screening service that can detect 500 conditions.

• Radiologists say they usually only recommend MRI scans for patients who have a family history of cancer and only on a case-by-case basis.

• Although MRI scans are useful in detecting abnormalities in the body, they can also create anxiety in patients and sometimes lead to unnecessary procedures.

Disclaimer: Verywell Health received a complimentary Prenuvo scan for this story.

Vera Sizensky, 38, has confronted a long history of cancer in her family. Her grandparents and parents had stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, testicular cancer, and a brain tumor. Four years ago, her mother battled lung cancer, despite not being a smoker. That’s when Sizensky started to worry that she could be harboring cancer in her own body.

When Sizenksy, an associate editorial director at Verywell Health, received an invitation to get a full-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, she jumped at the opportunity.

“Knowing there’s so much cancer in my family, I just want to know what’s brewing,” Sizensky told Verywell. “If it was just me, I would just live my life and whatever happens, happens. But I’ve got three little kids, and I’d like to stay around as long as possible.”

She booked an appointment at Prenuvo, a company that offers full-body MRI scans that cost $1,000 to $2,500 per session. An hour-long MRI session can screen for 500 common and rare conditions, from tumors to cysts to bone fractures, the company says.

Related: The Importance of Health Screenings As You Age

The services of Prenuvo and its competitors, including Ezra and Neko Health, are capturing the attention of celebrities. Kim Kardashian revived debate about the value of whole-body imaging when she posted a picture on Instagram last week with what she called Prenuvo’s “life-saving” MRI machine.

Despite Prenuvo’s focus on preventive health, many radiologists say full-body MRI scanning can do more harm than good. False positives and detection of benign abnormalities could send patients down a path of unnecessary follow-up tests and interventions.

But Sizensky said it was worth overriding her own doctor’s skepticism to gain some peace of mind. When the results came back a week after her scan, Sizensky said she breathed “a sigh of relief.” There was no sign of any malignancies. Instead, the scan showed she has mild scoliosis, a deviated septum, and a hernia. Years of undiagnosed pelvic pain suddenly made sense.

“I wasn’t thinking about things like a deviated septum and a hernia. The more I can know about my body and my mind, the better. I know how to better take care of myself if I know more about it,” Sizensky said.

Related: Celebrities Are Getting Full-Body MRIs to Check Their Health. Should You?

Can Full-Body MRI Scans Help Prevent Serious Health Issues?

Prenuvo’s mission is to diagnose conditions before they’re symptomatic to help patients seek early medical intervention. In many cases, patients may only need to make a lifestyle change to ward off medical intervention down the road, said Andrew Lacy, MBA, Founder and CEO of Prenuvo.

“All of us have a little voice in our head when we feel something going on with our bodies and we wonder what that might be. And I think people are nervous in some cases to actually have clarity, because what might that mean?” Lacy told Verywell.

Only 3.5% of all money spent in the U.S. healthcare system goes toward preventive care, according to the Health Care Cost Institute. Lacy said he hopes that investment in preventive screening tools can help make the health system much leaner.

Some people pay for a Prenuvo scan to diagnose symptoms they’re having a hard time pinning down, Lacy said. Others may be healthy and want to stay that way. And still others, like Sizensky, may have a family history of cancer and want to keep tabs on abnormalities.

To start the process, patients must go through a medical screening. Lacy said people are typically only ruled out if they have a pacemaker or another device that would be unsafe in an MRI, or if another test would be more appropriate for their health needs.

On the day of her appointment, Sizensky changed into scrubs and a technician walked her through the process. She was asked to lie on the bed of the machine and the technician placed weighted foam pads by her sides and over her abdomen to help her stay completely still for the hour-long session.

Once Sizensky was in the MRI machine, the technician left her alone in the room, but they could still speak to each other. Throughout the scan, the machine created a lot of “banging sounds,” she said, and the technician talked her through several rounds of deep breathing exercises. She held a small ball that she was instructed to squeeze if she ever panicked or wanted to exit the machine.

To pass the time, Prenuvo lets patients watch a TV show with special goggles. She requested “Seinfeld” because she knows the show well enough to not laugh at the jokes, thereby messing up the images. Still, she kept her eyes closed to keep from feeling too claustrophobic.

Sizensky received her results a week after her scan. The company typically shares images alongside the results for each of the 500 conditions that are covered in the scan. Many patients review their results with a health provider, and Prenuvo said it has nurses and radiologists on staff if patients need additional support.

Related: New 3D MRI Shows the Brain in Detail We've Never Seen Before

What Do Radiologists Think About Full-Body MRI Scans?

Sizensky has an appointment with her primary care provider in late August to discuss the findings. She said her doctor wasn’t enthusiastic about full-body imaging, but patients don’t need their doctor’s referral to get a Prenuvo scan. “She’s going to yell at me,” she said with a laugh.

Many radiologists have been wary of full-body imaging for decades. Major medical organizations, including the American College of Preventive Medicine, American College of Radiology, and Food and Drug Administration, say there’s limited evidence that these preventive screenings are cost-effective or beneficial for healthy people. There are also no insurance companies that cover the service through companies like Prenuvo.

“I am truthfully doubtful of whole-body screening, for example, to detect a hernia. If the hernia is not creating any issue, I’m not sure detecting it is necessarily helpful. And many times, it’s unclear that anything needs to be done and it creates unnecessary anxiety in some patients,” Zhen Jane Wang, MD, a radiologist at the University of California San Francisco, told Verywell.

At health centers like UCSF, where Wang works, providers may recommend full-body imaging to people with a family history of breast cancer and some other cancers. But the providers assess each patient on a case-by-case basis—not every person with a family history of cancer is at the same risk for developing disease, Wang said.

Related: CT Scan vs. MRI

“There are certainly specific scenarios where full-body MRI is very helpful, and in fact, that should be done. but it’s not for the general population at this time,” Wang said.

Whole-body MRIs are highly effective at detecting most cancers in patients with a high risk for cancer, according to a 2021 review article.

The authors wrote that whole-body imaging is promising because it’s a radiation-free approach to detecting malignant tumors in organs that are not currently covered by screening recommendations, like the lungs and pancreas. However, there are only a few small studies testing the accuracy of this approach in asymptomatic patients who don’t have a genetic predisposition for cancer, and their results don’t show a conclusive benefit to patients.

A preventive MRI is most likely to detect slow-growing cancers that are less likely to become harmful, according to Matthew Davenport, MD, a professor of radiology and urology at the University of Michigan. But it’s far less likely for a Prenuvo scan to be perfectly timed to detect a fast-growing and aggressive cancer for early treatment.

If a patient is at high risk for developing a disease, the benefit of screening outweighs the potential for harm. But for most people, knowledge is not always power, Davenport said. The testing and procedures that patients often seek after learning about the odd lumps and oddities in their bodies from a scan can be both costly and dangerous.

Davenport told Verywell that in 1999, South Korea supported a program to increase ultrasound screening for thyroid cancer in people with no symptoms. Over the next decade, the incidence of thyroid cancer increased more than six-fold. That staggering surge was “due to an increase in the detection of small tumors, most likely as a result of overdetection,” according to an analysis of the event.

Screening asymptomatic individuals didn’t move the needle on thyroid-related deaths very much, and many patients with small tumors were left with the complications of unnecessary procedures. Davenport warns the same thing can happen when companies offer broad screenings to healthy patients.

“It is true that [Prenuvo] will identify some things that are clinically important, but it’s a needle-in-the-haystack problem,” Davenport said. “Most of the stuff that they identify is clinically unimportant, but will still result in extensive follow-up testing, interventions, biopsies, procedures, and operations to manage things that never would have harmed the patient in the first place.”

Related: Genetic Tests Can Identify Breast Cancer Risk. Why Is It So Hard to Interpret the Results?

Is the Price Tag for Prenuvo Justifiable?

Prenuvo recommends that every person returns for a follow-up scan between six months and two years, depending on how closely they want to watch their health. At $2,500 per scan, routine visits could add up.

Lacy said he hopes insurance providers will agree to cover Prenuvo scans, but the company will need more data about long-term outcomes before it’s likely to achieve that.

Prenuvo touts its cutting-edge MRI technology and use of artificial intelligence to get a quicker and more accurate readout. But Davenport said that standard technology in most hospitals can take a full-body MRI.

Davenport added that he understands patients’ desires to get a glimpse of what’s happening inside their bodies. In a few decades, healthcare providers may better understand which findings from a preventive MRI are important and how to manage them in a way that is cost-effective and beneficial to the average patient. But for now, it’s hard to justify recommending an MRI scan for a healthy individual.

“If you have a patient who has an actual legitimate risk for cancer and fits into an accepted guideline of whole-body screening, I am 100% supportive of that. But when it’s being misrepresented as saving someone’s life and the more likely outcome is you’re going to hurt them, and then you’re charging them $2,500 for it, that’s unethical to me,” Davenport said.

Sizensky didn’t pay for her scan. But she said she would consider budgeting for a follow-up visit and would consider routine screenings.

Sizensky understands the hesitancy about getting Prenuvo scans. But in lieu of routine, effective preventive screening options for pancreatic, lung, and other cancers, she said she sees the value of a proactive MRI scan. Now, at least, she knows to ask her doctor about her newfound hernia.

“If anything, I’m kind of excited for the appointment because I have other stuff to talk to her about rather than just sitting there and being like, ‘I’m still nervous that I have cancer,’” Sizensky said.

Read Next: These Researchers Want to Make MRIs More Comfortable With Virtual Reality

What This Means For You

If you’re interested in getting a full-body MRI scan, make sure you’re well-informed about the cost, risks, and the results you’ll get in your final report. If you have specific health concerns, like localized pain or a family history of cancer, a health provider can help you understand your best options for screening and preventive care.

Read the original article on Verywell Health.