When people are told about unexpected findings from a full-body MRI scan, they’re much more likely to get unnecessary biopsies that turn out to be harmless — meaning doctors might be doing too many tests that don’t find cancer.

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Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

59

Community contributions welcome

59

The effects of incidental findings from whole-body MRI on the frequency of biopsies and detected malignancies or benign conditions in a general population cohort study

Cohort Study

Human

2020 Oct

People who were told about strange findings on their full-body MRI scans ended up getting more biopsies that turned out to be harmless, compared to people who weren’t told. This means they were tested too much for nothing — which is exactly what the claim says.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

The effects of incidental findings from whole-body MRI on the frequency of biopsies and detected malignancies or benign conditions in a general population cohort study

Score: 59

DOI: 10.1007/s10654-020-00679-4

Similar Assertions

When doctors tell patients about unexpected findings on a full-body MRI scan, it leads to over three times more biopsies that find cancer—but even then, very few actual cancers are found, so it might not be worth the hassle and cost.

59

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89%

When people get full-body scans or lab tests and are told about unexpected results—even if those results might not mean anything—they end up getting more biopsies, especially when the scan findings are shared. This might lead to too many medical tests that aren’t really needed.

59

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84%

When doctors tell patients about unexpected lab results, it leads to 37% more biopsies—but even more biopsies happen when doctors share unexpected MRI results, meaning imaging scans seem to trigger more follow-up tests than blood tests.

59

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79%

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.

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78%

When doctors scan the whole body with an MRI in people who feel fine and have no reason to think they have cancer, they find cancer in about 1.57 out of every 100 people.

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75%