In the latest health care trend, startups are selling peace of mind in the form of MRI scans. All one needs is a spare $1,000 to $2,500 — more than what over 25% of Americans have in savings.
Prenuvo charges $999 for a torso scan, $1,799 to include the head and $2,499 for the entire body. The company said the scans can identify more than 500 medical conditions, the Associated Press reported.
“We’re trying to give people the opportunity to be more proactive about their health,” the startup’s chief medical officer, Dr. Daniel Durand, told the news service.
An MRI scan, also known as magnetic resonance imaging, creates a detailed image of the body’s organs and tissues through a combination of computer-generated radio waves and a magnetic field. The noninvasive procedure is the most used imaging test for brains and spinal cords, allowing it to help diagnose aneurysms, stroke, tumors and traumatic injuries.
Influencer Kim Kardashian took to social media last year to promote Prenuvo’s scans in what she referred to as “#NotAnAd.” The company told the Associated Press it does not pay for endorsements, but does sometimes “provide a complimentary scan for an unbiased review.”
“I recently did this Prenuvo scan and had to tell you all about this life saving machine,” Kardashian said on Instagram. “The Prenuvo full-body scan has the ability to detect cancer and diseases such as aneurysms in its earliest stages, before symptoms arise. It was like getting a MRI for an hour with no radiation. It has really saved some of my friends lives and I just wanted to share.”
The social media post has garnered nearly 3.4 million “likes” within the past 12 months. She is not the only celebrity to have given the trend a push. To the tune of 231,483 likes, Paris Hilton endorsed Prenuvo in 2022. Model Cindy Crawford is an investor in the company, and Hollywood star Kate Hudson backed the MRI scan in June.
It’s a health care trend that has been slowly bubbling for years, but is now beginning to pick up pace — as Prenuvo announced a large-scale clinical study weeks after Hudson’s endorsement.
Some experts are not impressed quite yet, adding it may even lead to an unnecessary rise in health care costs.
“The American College of Radiology, at this time, does not believe there is sufficient evidence to justify recommending total body screening for patients with no clinical symptoms, risk factors or a family history suggesting underlying disease or serious injury,” the college reported in April 2023.
“To date, there is no documented evidence that total body screening is cost-efficient or effective in prolonging life,” it continued. “In addition, the ACR is concerned that such procedures will lead to the identification of numerous non-specific findings that will not ultimately improve patients’ health but will result in unnecessary follow-up testing and procedures, as well as significant expense.”
MRI machines have also not been approved for preventive care by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“You’re going to end up finding a lot of incidental things,” Dr. Mina Makary, a radiologist at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, told the Associated Press. “That’s going to create more psychological stress or trauma for the patient, including additional costs for tests and procedures that may have risks.”
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