Several imaging and medical facilities have started offering full-body scans as an early cancer screening test for healthy individuals without cancer-related symptoms. Do the possible benefits of a full-body scan justify the risks?

A full-body scan is usually a type of computed tomography, or CT, scan that starts at the base of your chin and runs down to the rest of your body. While the CT scans are the most common, an MRI or PET scan can be done for these tests. Scans can monitor the progression of cancer and are frequently utilized in assessing the severity of internal bleeding or injury.

Full-body scans have become an optional service that imaging and health institutions offer for the detection of cancer. Such people who are normally healthy and without symptoms of cancer can have this service.

Major medical organizations do not recommend full-body scanning as a procedure for screening for cancer, although it may appear to be an effective tool for early detection. To date, though research continues, it is believed that the risks are greater than the benefits.

This page delves into full-body scans in greater detail, including their function and risks.

Is a full-body scan necessary?

Generally, full-body scans are performed only if needed, such as to permit medical professionals to visualize the internal bleeding or to understand the full scope of a catastrophic injury in a better manner. Also, it is employed to determine whether the cancer responds to the treatment or spreads.

Full-body scans are not believed to be a useful method for cancer screening and early detection. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other major medical organizations do not recommend full-body scanning for healthy, asymptomatic individuals.

Although the benefits of this test have not been established, scientists are researching the possibility of full-body scans as screens for people who are at high risk of developing specific cancers, such as lung and colon cancer. Full-body scans are now only recommended in highly specific medical situations.

Does early cancer detection benefit from a full-body scan?

Several imaging and medical facilities recommend full-body scans as an early cancer detection technique (Trusted Source). CT scans are usually also available. Full-body MRI scans or PET scan imaging may be available at imaging centers.

This makes sense, seems like a reasonable approach, based on the idea that pictures of the entire body should help detect malignancies before they become noticeable. However, none of these full-body scans is recommended for screening purposes.

Traditionally, cancer imaging focuses on limited areas and looks for known cancer-inducing tumors. A mammogram is a close-up shot of the breast tissue.

A whole-body scan involves examining every part of your body. By doing so, they might miss very tiny, invisible cancers and create a false sense of security. This might cause some people to overlook their cancer-related symptoms.

Moreover, “false positives” can occur in healthy persons who have full-body scans. This means that even if persons do not have cancer, they can still have abnormal results. These incorrect positives may lead to anxiety, costs, and unnecessary testing.

What risks are involved with a whole-body scan?

The other danger of a full-body scan is radiation exposure. Radiation is used in both CT and PET scans to create highly detailed pictures of the inside organs. CT or PET full-body scans expose your body to high levels of radiation. You may be more susceptible to cancer as a result of this exposure.

The benefits of doing a full-body scan to determine the severity of an injury or the direction of cancer usually outweigh the risks. The FDA does not recommend full-body scans for cancer screening because the effectiveness of these scans as a cancer detection device is not known.

Full-body scans can cause people to ignore their symptoms if the results are false negatives, and false positives can lead to unnecessary treatment.

Although other cancer screening methods may carry risks, the benefits of these tests have been proven. For example, mammography have been proven to be an effective early detection tool for breast cancer, although there is a risk of false positives.

Like mammograms, colonoscopies have proved to be beneficial as a screening method for colon cancer, even with the potential risks and complications, including bleeding.

Second, neither of these methods irradiates your body to anywhere near the extent that’s comparable. In fact, a high-risk individual CT scan to aid in the detection of lung cancer is the only other radiation-related form of cancer diagnostics besides whole-body scanning. In such cases, as opposed to using this type of scan, there is a far smaller, confined dose of radiation focused to a much smaller body part.

Which imaging tests are most commonly used to identify cancer?

Various imaging techniques are employed for the early diagnosis of cancer. Some of these are meant for certain people who fit into a specific category, either in terms of age or sex. Others are aimed at people with increased possibilities of developing some other cancer types.

Imaging testing for cancers include:

• MRI scan

•  mammograms

• CT scan

•  Ultrasound

•  X-rays

A full-body scan comes with results in the end.

A full-body scan is a treatment conducted out-patient. You are not needed to have any kind of anesthesia or sedative, and you should not feel any pain. Here’s what to expect from a full-body scan, regardless of whether you’re having a CT or PET scan:

• You will be requested to take off your watch and any jewelry you may be wearing, as well as change into a hospital gown

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• You will recline on a cushioned surface that slides into a machine that resembles a tunnel.

• A radioactive dye may be injected into you to help detect specific anomalies.

• To snap pictures, the machine will revolve around you.

• During the procedure, you will be able to communicate with a professional, but you will need to remain still.

• It should take no more than twenty minutes to complete the full process.

What is the cost of a full-body scan?

Unless a doctor determines it may be medically essential, insurance usually does not cover an elective full-body scan for cancer detection.

Online price lists indicate that scans can vary in cost from $500 to several thousand dollars; the type of scan will depend on the price with your location and the center, too.

The cost of a full-body scan will depend on your insurance plan and coverage if it is part of your treatment for an injury or cancer.

The bottom line

Full-body scans are sometimes available through some imaging and medical facilities as early cancer detection tests. No major medical organization advises or recommends this surgery. Full-body scans as a means of early cancer detection have not been shown to be effective.

Full-body scans can cause false positives and false negatives as well. Moreover, they are likely to expose non-symptomatic people to more radiation than is required. That has no known benefit, which may increase your chance of getting cancer. Presently, it is assumed that elective full-body scans pose greater risks than benefits.

Presently, full-body scans are not recommended as a cancer screening method; however, studies are in pursuit of the potential that the technique may hold for high-risk persons.