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 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 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.

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 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.