Praised by influencers, criticized by the medical profession

Would you pay $2500 to find out if you have cancer? This is now offered by private clinics in Canada and the United States through a “whole body examination”. The Canadian Association of Radiologists, however, warns that this service – touted by many influencers – offers no proven health benefits.

“Life-saving information and peace of mind. » This is the promise of the Canadian company Prenuvo, which carries out magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the entire body for $2,499. The company claims to detect hundreds of cancers and diseases.

Practiced in nearly ten sites in the United States, this medical approach is also reaching Canada. “Many Canadians have expressed a desire to have more clinics available to them,” Prenuvo said. A first center is open in Vancouver and a second center will soon follow in Toronto, we learned The Press. A clinic in Montreal is not envisaged by the company in the short term.

Many influencers have praised this new service on social media. “I recently had this Prenuvo scanner and I had to tell you about this life-saving machine,” Kim Kardashian said on Instagram in August, posing in front of the MRI machine dressed in a medical uniform.

In May, American television presenter Maria Menounos revealed that her Prenuvo test had detected pancreatic cancer. “Please know that I am working to ensure that these scanners are covered by insurance for everyone,” she wrote on Instagram.

Prenuvo maintains that it does not pay influencers, but offers a free scanner in exchange for an unbiased review.

Other companies offer a similar service. Such is the case with Ezra, which also offers full-body MRIs at its 20 locations, including New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Los Angeles. Around ten new branches are planned in the United States and the United Kingdom in the coming months.

“It’s irrelevant.”

However, radiologists express their reservations about this new service which is generating enthusiasm. “This review is not something that is necessary in any way. There is no real statistical utility. It’s irrelevant,” says the D^r Grégoire Bernèche, vice-president of the Association of Radiologists of Quebec.

The American College of Radiology (ACR) declared last April that there was no evidence that whole-body MRI was “cost-effective or effective in prolonging life.”

Prenuvo recognizes that it is necessary “to conduct long-term, large-scale studies to prove [ses] reference practices in proactive health. »

Health Canada is categorical: no approval has been issued for MRIs designed specifically to produce images of the whole body. However, in practice, the body does not regulate the provision of services and the manner in which authorized medical devices are used, he told The Press Nicholas Janveau, media relations.

Benign findings

One in twenty patients has been informed of a potentially life-saving discovery, Prenuvo maintains. “This encompasses a range of conditions that can pose a significant health risk if left undetected,” the company told The Press.

It also boasts of being able to detect cancers and up to 500 other pathologies. “Of these pathologies, there are three quarters that you should not see, which will never kill you and which are benign. The only thing it’s going to do is cause you anxiety,” says Dr.^r Bernèche.

Prenuvo says it can detect certain serious illnesses, but they simply don’t need to be screened for in healthy people, says Dr.^r Bernèche.

In many patients, we will discover what are called fortuitomas – or incidentalomas – which are abnormalities discovered accidentally that are generally benign. “It could be, for example, a small, very common benign tumor in the brain called a meningioma,” says Dr.^r Bernèche. However, these discoveries will require additional examinations which may cause anxiety in the patient, warns the specialist.

If a “fortuitous cause” is detected during the examination of Prenuvo, the investigations aimed at ensuring that it is benign will probably take place in the public network, indicates the D^r Bernèche. He estimates that 20 to 25% of patients will have these kinds of accidental findings that will require additional investigation.

Congestion the network

These findings risk congesting the health network which is already crowded. “The state of radiology waiting lists is very worrying,” says Dr.^r Lift up.

Some patients, for example who have unspecified abdominal pain, can wait up to three months to obtain an MRI in Quebec. Other patients, who need a hip or knee replacement, can wait up to a year.

Prenuvo, for its part, believes that early detection of potential health problems is the key to reducing the need for invasive and costly procedures in the long term. “This will help reduce the overwhelming demand created by the reactive nature of the Canadian healthcare system,” the company said.

A less efficient test

It is possible to perform a full-body MRI in an hour and a half, but the quality of the images will be affected, specialists also warn. “If these were really complete MRIs of each organ, we would probably have four hours in the machine,” says Dr.^r Bernèche.

The MRI offered by Prenuvo can identify pathologies that do not require high image quality, adds the specialist. “We can do an MRI of the whole body in an hour and a half, but it will not have the same precision as an MRI of the head which will take an hour. »

“People can do what they want with their money, but from the point of view of a specialist doctor, this is not something that we find particularly attractive,” summarizes the D^r Bernèche. One thing is certain: “If there was a benefit, we would have been doing it for a long time in Quebec. »