EZRA cancer scanning

Interesting.
Hope they get it down to the 15 minutes and $500, much more likely to be utilized by everyone.
In many ways, it would be a very good use of money for preventative care by insurance companies, as long as they continue to decrease the risk of false positives.
 
This may be something new, but such full body scans have been offered for a long time in conjunction with (very expensive) "executive physicals" at a number of facilities. From what I've read, there are a lot of false positives which cause needless and risky biopsies. I actually know of one instance where the patient got a biopsy of something that showed up in a lung, and even though it was actually a false positive something went sideways and he lost about a third of that lung.
 
$2k sounds a bit expensive plus an abnormal MRI image doesn't mean the growth is cancerous. I've been looking into the Galleri Cancer screening test for $949 - blood test that look for cancer markers.
 
The TV news item I saw on the whole scanning, said it cost $2,499 and is not covered by insurance nor medicare.

They gave the example how for 1 "famous" person it found cancer in some organ. Great for that person.
They didn't say how many people get scanned and are "healthy".

In reality, to be sure nothing is missed, a person should be scanned each month... which is totally unreasonable unless you are a very very rich person.
 
Very interested in this. Hopefully, in a couple years, the costs will have come down a bit and it will be more widely available. And I imagine the rate of false positives will drop substantially over time, with better and better AI. Sign me up!
 
"Ultimately, our goal is to create a $500 full-body MRI that anyone can afford".

Apparently the CEO is unaware that the majority of the people in the US don't have $500 in the bank. Even less have enough that spending $500 on a non-emergency would be a realistic option. Unless it is fully covered by insurance it will be a rich person thing only.
 
aaronc879 said:
"Ultimately, our goal is to create a $500 full-body MRI that anyone can afford".

Apparently the CEO is unaware that the majority of the people in the US don't have $500 in the bank. Even less have enough that spending $500 on a non-emergency would be a realistic option. Unless it is fully covered by insurance it will be a rich person thing only.
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Plus currently an MRI paid with cash is already more expensive than $500, it's just BS so people will feel good about it.
 
braumeister said:
This may be something new, but such full body scans have been offered for a long time in conjunction with (very expensive) "executive physicals" at a number of facilities. From what I've read, there are a lot of false positives which cause needless and risky biopsies. I actually know of one instance where the patient got a biopsy of something that showed up in a lung, and even though it was actually a false positive something went sideways and he lost about a third of that lung.
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And lung biopsies are NOT pleasant. Good chance of lung collapse and no way to blunt the pain. Chances of missing the target is significant.

Chasing phantom cancers seems a MUCH bigger issue than cost. YMMV
 
1 hour for a multi organ scan with accuracy? Color me a skeptic. It takes half that time just for a mammogram or any single-joint MRI.
 
I’m seeing flashes of Theranos.
I think we all know how that ended.
 
Another technology which is actually very effective at spotting cancers is CT. It's not routinely done on "healthy" patients as the amount of radiation is like 200 chest X-rays for one upper or one lower body scan. BUT when it is done for some other particular issue, you can bet that the results are examined for cancers or other conditions that might be elucidated.

IIRC CT scans are relatively inexpensive compared to full body MRI. Not suggesting them, but I'd expect a 60 year old would be a potential candidate for an upper and lower CT JUST to look for cancer. Radiation at that age is less of an issue (because the patient has less time to develop cancers or other issues from the additional radiation.) Still, to my knowledge, CTs are not used diagnostically on patients not suspected of having cancers or other issues. YMMV
 
Aerides said:
1 hour for a multi organ scan with accuracy? Color me a skeptic. It takes half that time just for a mammogram or any single-joint MRI.
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There may be different types of MRI, but I had one on my hand (just one of them) a couple of months ago and it took over 40 minutes.
 
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