FULL BODY MRI CANCER SCREENING
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
PreNuvo is at the forefront of this new technology and a growing leader with currently 5 locations in the US and Canada and growing
The one I recently had the opportunity and blessing to go to is their newest one in Los Angeles California
Previously full body “pre cancer” screenings were done with a CT scan, which uses hundreds if not thousands of X-rays over your entire body to check for abnormalities and cancer. Which it does. But at the cost of possibly and more probably causing cancer. It is after all, radiation.
As an example a single chest X-ray vs a chest CT scan is 70 times the radiation.
There is a time and place for Ct scans.
But as a preventative measure, it is NOT one.
MRIs use NO radiation.
Enter
Prenuvo.
The story goes that the founder of Prenuvo had a very close friend that died suddenly of an undiagnosed cancer that showed no signs or symptoms.
How often have you heard or even experienced this?
So the founder decided to start Prenuvo as a way to detect early / unknown cancer.
In about 45-55 minutes you get a full body MRI at 1.5 Teslas from head to toe.
Functional medicine is all about function, or lack thereof. But sometimes things function fine even if there is a problem with “form”
For example. If you have an unbalance tire on your car. Sometimes you can see it, sometimes you cant. You need to check both. The beauty of the body is that it has an amazing ability to compensate like crazy. Until it doesnt.
Example - one of the most common initial symptoms of a heart attack is death. It doesnt necessarily mean you didnt have a problem. It just means you didnt see or feel the problem until its too late.
For me, getting a Prenuvo bull body MRI scan is the perfect complement to what I do. Its 2 sides of the same coin. The yin to my yang, hug to my kiss, marge to my homer, Lightning and thunder, Cheech to my Chong. You get it. They go together.
You need to check function and form.
They scan and screen for over 500 different cancers, arthritis, disc herniation, hemangiomas, and tons of other abnormalities that you would otherwise not find until possibly too late. It literally goes from head to toe (depending on your height) if you are on the taller side it might cut off around the ankles and wrists or a little higher, such as on mine. But those areas aren’t really that important. And if you have an issue there, you should get a dedicated MRI to that area.
In speaking with the radiologist in my report of findings, Great job by the way Sean. He reported that about 1 in 50 people they will find some degree of aneurism. Which isnt always life threatening. Its many times more about monitoring and keeping track of things to make sure they are stable and dont progress. Which is what we do too. Hmm go figure.
And about 1 in 20 will find significant findings that need to be followed up with your primary doctor. When I heard these rates I was pretty floored. Thats much higher that what I though t it would be.
But then I thought about my own findings with patients. I would say about 75% of the time or maybe even more we find things that the patient didnt know also.
Let me tell you that everything about Prenuvo is a white glove, red carpet experience.
From the building, furnishings, customer service, the little waiting room, comfort while getting the MRI (such as the TV - nice touch) to the reporting and report of findings experience.
Now, Ill be honest. My experience may have been a little more white glove than most given that I practice functional medicine and my intention of doing the scan was not only prevention for me but also for the benefit of my patients and referring patients to them.
But one of our close friends and my wife both had it done as well and they were impressed also.
So the way that it works is that you get the scan.
That scan then goes to the radiologist who reads the scan and generates a report. When you get a report of findings you will get an appointment with an NP who goes over the report with you and explains it.
You will also then get an email with a link to all of your images, findings, explanations, etc.
I was very very impressed with the level of thoroughness of their app that they have put together. They may even offer some suggestions. Not treatment.
The app will tell you all of the findings on you MRI and they will give you a link to view more information about what the findings were.
Ini general, they recommend getting a scan about every 2 years unless there is some sort of abnormality that it is recommended to follow up with sooner rather than later. I for one will definitely be going every 2 years.
Now, for those VIP patients. Which, yes Im VIP. Like I said, I got the white glove experience.
You can upgrade your scan report of findings to actually have an appointment with the radiologist themselves. Let me warn you this is not a cheap upgrade. Now as a practitioner I think they are well to do this with all of their referring doctors. It gives you a greater understanding of what is going on and being looked at and what can be found.
My radiologist Sean spent about 1.5 hours with me going over everything. In great detail. It was awesome. But I also knew what he was talking about and fascinated with some of th technology they use and the images themselves. Having dissected a body in school, seeing things in slices like that is super cool.
So if you are the type of person that #1 can afford it, #2 like to geek out on medical stuff and #3 want a more in detailed in person/zoom explanation. I highly highly recommend it.
But for the average Joe/Jane. Its probably overkill.
Prenuvo has different Scans that you can do.
From the least to most expensive, There is the Torso scan, head and torso scan and then the whole body scan. You can see the prices here.
For our patients we are able to offer a discount when scheduled through our office and it works out to save you about 200 on the whole body scan.
So which scan should you get. At the very least I would recommend the head and torso.
Personally what I would recommend is get the Whole body scan and do the full kit and caboodle. Then you have a great overview. Then from there you have an idea if there are any problem areas that need to be followed more closely. Then the next time you go in 2 years you can decide which one to do. In reality you could get away with doing only the torso or head and torso. Personally Id go with the head and torso for follow up ones.
Remember,
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Without your health what is anything worth?Nothing.
So get a functional medicine blood workup at least once per year and get a Prenuvo MRI scan every 2 years.
It costs a whole lot more to be sick than it does to be health.
Im Dr. Craig Mortensen
Be health, Be happy.
