The Study
Potentially relevant incidental findings on research whole-body MRI in the general adult population: frequencies and management
This study counted how many people had unexpected health findings on a full-body MRI scan. It tells us how common those findings are, but it doesn’t prove that the MRI caused anything or that finding them helps people live longer.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
Scientists scanned 2,500 healthy adults' whole bodies to see what unexpected things they'd find. Most findings weren't clearly good or bad, but some needed urgent attention.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 536 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — nearly 1 in 3 people got news about something potentially important, but most findings were confusing and needed more tests.
- 236.2% of people had unexpected findings; 57.7% of those were unclear if harmful; 0.4% needed immediate care; 31.5% of people got told about at least one finding.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
European Radiology
Year
2013
Authors
K. Hegenscheid, Rebecca Seipel, C. Schmidt, H. Völzke, J. Kühn, R. Biffar, H. Kroemer, N. Hosten, R. Puls
Related Content
Claims (6)
When healthy people without symptoms get a full-body MRI scan, about 1 in 3 people end up with some unexpected finding on the scan — and almost 6 out of 10 of those surprises don’t clearly mean anything medically important.
When adults get a full-body MRI scan for research, about 1 in 3 people end up with unexpected findings—most often in their belly, kidneys, or bones—even though they weren’t being checked for those issues.
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.
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.
A team of experts from different fields can help decide which unexpected health findings from a full-body MRI scan should be told to the person being scanned—and they got it right about 8 out of 10 times.
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.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.