Whole-Body Screening

Is this the future of preventive health care? 

- Caitlin Carlson

If you've ever gotten an MRI, it was probably ordered by your doc based on symptoms or a potential injury that warranted a deeper look.

Now imagine going in for one for, well, no specific reason, exactly-just overall well-being. An increasing number of start-ups now offer preventive health MRIS (which use powerful magnets and radio waves to create images of your body). They claim the scans help diagnose medical conditions early.

Prenuvo, for example, provides full-body scans (at eight locations around the U.S. and Canada, with more coming soon) to potentially detect over 500 conditions, including early-stage tumors and issues like muscle tears, fat deposition in the liver, and appendicitis. (ICYMI: This is the test that helped Maria Menounos detect a stage II pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor.) In addition to the high price point (scans cost anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500), there are a ton of things to consider before booking. What's compelling or potentially deterring about a next-gen workup...