Full-Body MRI: What It Misses, False Positives & Smarter Screening

Before spending thousands of dollars on a whole-body MRI, it is worth understanding what the scan can and cannot do. In this episode, Dr. Hillary Lin talks with Dr. Sunil Kini, a board-certified diagnostic radiologist, about full-body MRI screening, missed cancers, false positives, incidental findings, AI-assisted imaging, and when a targeted test may be more useful than a broad scan.

The point is not that MRI is useless. The point is that screening only helps when it is matched to the right person, risk level, organ system, imaging protocol, radiologist review, and follow-up plan. Whole-body MRI can find some important abnormalities, but it can also miss certain cancers, create false reassurance, and trigger expensive or invasive follow-up for findings that may never have caused harm.