8 doctors duke it out on whole body MRI scans
Companies like Prenuvo and Ezra are provoking some big debates within the medical community
One of the most contentious topics out there right now in health-tech is whole body MRI scanning. There’s now a group of venture-backed companies, including Prenuvo and Ezra, that offer to scan for an array of medical issues, including cancer and brain aneurysms.
For the most part, the early adopters have been those that can afford it. Prenuvo’s scan will cost set you back $2,499. Ezra’s also costs about $2000.
All of this provokes the question: As a health-tech industry, how should we be thinking about this new technology?
Personally, I’ll share with you all that I’m conflicted. One the one hand, I have friends who have genuinely benefited from these scans. If people are willing to pay for it out-of-pocket, who are we to deny them? And there are aspects of medicine that feel paternalistic to me. I believe it takes more work to educate and inform, but patients can absolutely understand nuances. On the other hand, many physicians in my network have pointed to the problem of “incidental…