When doctors do full-body scans for research, less than half a percent of unexpected findings turn out to be serious enough to need urgent medical attention.

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.

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.

Getting a full-body MRI often finds weird little things that aren’t actually a problem, which can lead to more tests and stress — but we don’t yet know if all this causes more harm than good.

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.

Using a full-body MRI scan on people who feel fine can sometimes find hidden health problems they didn’t know they had—and some of those problems might need a doctor’s attention.