When adults get a full-body MRI scan for research, about 1 in 3 people end up with unexpected findings—most often in their belly, kidneys, or bones—even though they weren’t being checked for those issues.

When people who feel perfectly fine get a full-body MRI scan, doctors often find unexpected things like bumps or changes in their spine, belly, muscles, or organs — and this happens a lot, even when they have no symptoms.

When healthy people without symptoms get a full-body MRI scan, about 1 in 3 people end up with some unexpected finding on the scan — and almost 6 out of 10 of those surprises don’t clearly mean anything medically important.

When healthy people without symptoms get a full-body MRI scan, doctors often find weird little things that aren’t actually harmful—but those findings can lead to more tests and stress that might not be needed.

When doctors scan someone’s whole body for research, they sometimes find unexpected things — and more than half the time, they can’t tell if those things are harmless or dangerous without doing more tests.

In a study where people got full-body MRI scans for research, about 1 in 3 were told they had some unexpected health finding that might need attention.