A full-body MRI scan can find cancer in about 6 out of every 100 people who have a rare inherited gene mutation (TP53) but feel perfectly fine — and most of those cancers are caught early, when they’re easier to treat.

When doctors scan the whole body of people who have a rare inherited gene mutation (TP53) but feel fine, they find strange spots in about 1 in 3 people that need more checking.

A full-body MRI scan found 41 out of 46 hidden cancers in people who have a gene mutation that raises their cancer risk—even though they felt perfectly fine. This suggests the scan might catch cancers early, when they’re easier to treat.

When doctors scan people with a rare gene mutation (TP53) who feel fine, and they find weird spots on the scan, about 18% of those spots turn out to be real cancer — so the scan is somewhat helpful but not perfect at catching cancer early.

When people with a specific gene mutation (TP53) who feel fine get a full-body MRI scan, about 2 out of every 100 of them are found to have cancer during the scan — whether it’s their first scan or a later one.

When doctors use full-body MRI scans on people who feel fine, about two out of three cancers they find are in body parts that don’t usually get checked during routine screenings—so this scan might catch cancers other tests miss.