There are a lot of reasons people come to TrueScan for a full-body MRI. But let's walk through the most common ones – and how this scan could give you peace of mind, help you catch disease early, and maybe even save your life.
Reason #1: Genetic or Family History
If you already know you have a genetic risk, why wouldn't you want to stay ahead of it?
If you haven't done so already, you should get a genetic test. Knowing your inherited risks gives you a chance to take real, preventative action.
Genes shape a huge part of our health – nutritional needs, how we repair DNA, and how we fight disease. They also help us understand how likely we are to develop certain conditions, especially cancers and autoimmune diseases.
The numbers:
- 5–10% of all cancers are hereditary.
- BRCA mutations give women up to a 50% chance of developing breast cancer and a 30% chance of ovarian cancer by age 70. In the general population, those numbers are just 7% and 1%, respectively.
But it's not just cancer:
- About 30% of all autoimmune diseases are linked to genetic predisposition.
- Conditions like multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis often leave telltale MRI signs before symptoms show.
- Up to 20% of patients with brain aneurysms have a family history of the condition – MRIs can catch these before they rupture.
While MRI doesn't show your genes, it shows the effects. A full body MRI detects lesions, organ changes, vascular risks, and brain or spinal abnormalities – before they cause damage.
If you know what you're genetically at risk for, full-body MRI can help you stay one step ahead.
Reason #2: Unexplained Symptoms
40% of all primary care visits in the U.S. involve unexplained symptoms. A cause is found in only 25% of those cases.
You've probably heard some version of this story: You feel off. You bounce between doctors. Maybe someone suggests it's just stress. Maybe you're told everything looks fine. Meanwhile, your symptoms continue.
This is called "medical gaslighting", resulting in a feeling that your health concerns are not taken seriously. It leads to frustration – and worse, delayed diagnoses.
Rare diseases aren't often on your physician's radar either. According to the World Economic Forum, 40% of people with rare diseases are misdiagnosed at least once.
In one study of 1,700 women with ovarian cancer, 95% had symptoms before diagnosis – but only 20% were told it might be cancer. These delays in diagnosis cost lives.
A full-body MRI changes that.
Instead of chasing symptoms with specialist after specialist, you can get a full, head-to-ankle snapshot of your health in just 60 minutes.
Full-body MRI gives you an option to investigate before you're told to wait. Or worse – before it's too late.
Reason #3: Staying Proactive
Most serious diseases don't show symptoms until it's too late.
More than 50% of cancers are diagnosed at advanced stages. That's not because we can't catch them earlier – it's because we're not looking.
Why? Because routine screenings are narrow. You get a mammogram if you're over the age of 40. You get a colonoscopy if you're over 45. And for most deadly cancers – pancreatic, brain, liver – there is no routine screening at all.
That's a problem.
Only 14% of cancers are caught by routine screening. The other 86%? Discovered after symptoms show up or by accident.
We can do better.
A full-body MRI screens for over 500 conditions at once, including:
- Solid tumors (as early as stage I)
- Aneurysms
- Neurological conditions
- Metabolic disorders
- Spinal abnormalities
- Non-cancerous findings like cysts or nodules
And unlike CT or PET scans, it's non-invasive:
- No radiation
- No contrast dye
- No claustrophobic tube (our scanners are spacious and comfortable)
You also get the benefit of tracking your health over time. Annual or biannual scans let you compare baseline to future, which helps monitor subtle changes before they become major issues.
Early detection is also more important than ever; researchers found that just a 4-week delay in cancer treatment increases mortality by up to 13%! That makes a huge difference.
So is the 79% global rise in early-onset cancer in people under 50 between 1990 and 2019. Additionally, the number of early-onset cancer deaths also rose by 27.7% during that same period.
Which brings us to...
The Peace of Mind Factor
You don't wait to install a smoke detector after a fire burns down your house.
So why wait until symptoms show up before you check what's going on inside your body?
A full-body MRI isn't just about early detection. It's about control. It's about not waiting for the system to catch up. It's about seeing clearly – and deciding what you want to do about it.
Because it's your body. And you deserve to know what's going on inside it.
Reason #4: It's Great Value
In The Real Cost of a Full Body MRI, we covered how our scan is actually great value compared to traditional methods! If you got dedicated MRIs of every part of your body, you would spend over $5,000, sit for 8.5 hours in an MRI machine, and not know what to do with your results. With TrueScan, you get:
One visit- 60 minutes
- $1,995 flat
- With a doctor consultation and results in 48 hours
The cost of late-stage cancer is brutal
Here's what happens when you don't catch cancer early:
Nearly half (49%) of cancer patients and survivors are burdened by medical debt.- Cancer patients are 2.5x more likely to declare bankruptcy.
- They're also 71% more likely to suffer a severe financial blow than healthy people.
- Newly approved cancer drugs now cost $283,000 a year. That's up 53% from just five years ago.
Stage III or IV cancer means you're probably looking at:
- Multiple drug regimens
- Radiation
- Immunotherapy (which, by the way, makes up 4 of the 5 most expensive cancer drugs in the U.S.)
But if you catch it in Stage I?
You might just need surgery.
That's it. No systemic chemo. No $283k bill. No medical bankruptcy.
The takeaway
If you're healthy now but want to stay that way, full-body MRI is a great tool to scan your entire body for early signs of disease before symptoms show up.
Sources
[1] Vojdani A, Pollard KM, Campbell AW. Environmental triggers and autoimmunity. Autoimmune Dis. 2014;2014:798029.
[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, September 13). What causes hereditary breast and ovarian cancer? link
[3] Cooper GS, Miller FW, Pandey JP. The role of genetic factors in autoimmune disease: implications for environmental research. Environ Health Perspect. 1999 Oct;107 Suppl 5(Suppl 5):693-700.
[4] LeBlanc, R. (1996). Familial cerebral aneurysms: A bias for women. Stroke, 27(6), 1050–1051. link
[5] Kirmayer, L. J., Groleau, D., Looper, K. J., & Dao, M. D. (2004). Explaining medically unexplained symptoms. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 49(10), 663–672. link
[6] Cancer, Vol 89, No 10, pp 2068-2075, 2000.
[7] Raza, S. (2020, February 28). It takes far too long for a rare disease to be diagnosed – here is how that can change. World Economic Forum. link
[8] American Association for Cancer Research. (2022). AACR Cancer Progress Report 2022. link
[9] NORC at the University of Chicago. (2022, December 13). State-specific preventive care data summaries. link
[10] Reuters. (2025, January 5). U.S. new drug price exceeds $200,000 median in 2022. Reuters. link
[11] CancerConnect. (2018, May 4). Study suggests symptoms of ovarian cancer exist in patients prior to diagnosis. link
[12] The BMJ. (2020, November 5). Every month delayed in cancer treatment can raise risk of death by around 10%. BMJ Group. link
[13] American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. (2022, October 4). Survey finds majority of cancer patients and survivors have or expect to incur medical debt. link
[14] Shankaran, V., Li, L., Fedorenko, C., Sanchez, H., Du, Y., Khor, S., Kreizenbeck, K., & Ramsey, S. (2022). Risk of adverse financial events in patients with cancer: Evidence from a novel linkage between cancer registry and credit records. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 40(8). link
