Whole-body MRI for preventive health screening: Management strategies and clinical implications

• Published in: European journal of radiology 2021-04, Vol.137, p.109584-109584, Article 109584
• Main Authors: Basar, Yeliz, Alis, Deniz, Tekcan Sanli, Deniz Esin, Akbas, Tugana, Karaarslan, Ercan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Breast Neoplasms; Cancer; Diagnostic screening programs; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mass Screening; Middle Aged; MR imaging; Preventive medicine; Retrospective Studies; Whole Body Imaging
• ISSN: 0720-048X; 1872-7727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2021.109584

•Non-contrast-enhanced whole-body MRI screening for asymptomatic adults can identify a range of clinically relevant findings.•Given MRI’s inherent limitations, it might overlook several important cancers such as breast, colon or thyroid cancer.•Whole-body MRI should be reviewed as an adjunct to the established screening methods for health-conscious individuals. To document the diagnostic yields of whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) screening for asymptomatic individuals by using a classification system that categorizes the findings by clinical relevance and provides a flowchart for further investigations, and to determine the influence of WB-MRI findings on clinical decision-making. In this institutional review board-approved study, a retrospective review of individuals who underwent WB-MRI between 2009 and 2020 was conducted, and asymptomatic participants who underwent non-contrast-enhanced comprehensive WB-MRI for screening were enrolled. Participants were classified into four categories based on WB-MRI findings, and those with relevant findings (i.e., categories 3 and 4) were referred for further diagnostic workup. The participants’ medical records were investigated, and interviews were conducted to reveal false-negative findings and identify the number of WB-MRI–triggered treatments. We included 576 participants (377 [65.4 %] men, 199 [34.6 %] women; mean age, 48.40 ± 10.82 years), of which 266 (46.2 %) and 310 (53.8 %) underwent WB-MRI with 1.5 T and 3.0 T magnets, respectively. Approximately one-third of the participants showed clinically relevant findings, and 65 (11.2 %) received a treatment triggered by WB-MRI. Notably, 15 (2.6 %) and 28 (4.8 %) participants had cancers and intracranial aneurysms, respectively. Of the 576 participants, 16 (2.8 %) had false-negative findings, among which five had cancers. WB-MRI yields numerous important findings that trigger therapeutic interventions in a large sample of asymptomatic adults. However, considering its inherent limitations, WB-MRI might be inadequate for detecting malignancies such as colon, thyroid, and breast cancers; thus, it may serve as a complementary screening method for health-conscious individuals.