Doctors are testing a full-body scan that can find many types of cancer at once, and they’re using it on both people who pay for it themselves and those who get it for free, to see if rich and poor people are being detected differently.

A program called the Hercules Project is giving free whole-body MRI scans to people who can’t usually afford them, to see if cancer is found more often in poorer communities.

When doctors scanned healthy adults with a full-body MRI just to check for problems, most of the cancers they found were in people who didn’t have any symptoms—meaning the scan caught cancers before people even felt sick.

Using whole-body MRI to screen everyone for cancer isn't a good idea right now because it often misses cancers, finds too many harmless things that cause worry, isn't done the same way everywhere, and we don't know if it actually helps people live longer or healthier lives.

Doctors are testing if a full-body MRI scan can find hidden cancers sooner in people who feel fine, so they can start treatment faster.

Using a full-body MRI scan might help find cancers in body parts where doctors don’t normally screen people, like without a regular test.