How often do full-body MRIs find cancer?

Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by p0pularopinion on Saturday February 14, 2026 @04:59PM (#47018789)

> My father is a part of "full body PET scan every 3 years" program as part of post - cancer treatment,

These treatments are wonderful and it is great that they exist. But many people fail to understand the difference in terms of pretest probability, etc.

I can absolutely see the heavy psychological impact pending biopsy results may have. People are quick to discount these issues when you raise them as a concern, but only if they never went through this stress themselves

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Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by mcbain on Saturday February 14, 2026 @05:15PM (#47018946)

I have multiple scans a year. "Scanxiety" is real.

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Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by lostlogin on Saturday February 14, 2026 @11:43PM (#47021128)

Multiple PETs?

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Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by mcbain on Sunday February 15, 2026 @12:04AM (#47021217)

Yes, with MRI brain too. I was on 4/year, but that number is reducing as time goes on without recurrence.

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Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by lostlogin on Sunday February 15, 2026 @02:00AM (#47021646)

Sorry, I missed a key detail. What you are describing isn’t the ‘whole body mri’ I’m referencing by to.

People in high risk situations like multiple myeloma, or various metastic diseases, or system conditions are a whole different category and there is clear benefit to screening them.

It sounds like you have had a tough time.

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Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by vasco on Sunday February 15, 2026 @02:52AM (#47021850)

I do once a year and have skipped 2 because of that. I've since resumed but for a while I convinced myself I'd rather not know.

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Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by robocat on Sunday February 15, 2026 @05:25AM (#47022630)

> Scanxiety

Cute written word - even though two words pronounced completely differently at join (an versus añ).

Which do you pronounce correctly the scan or the anxiety? [scan]xiety or [sk]anxiety

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Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by hbs18 on Sunday February 15, 2026 @06:55PM (#47029114)

As a non-native English speaker, pronouncing it scan-xiety (sken-ZAHyetee) feels correct.

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Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by mcbain on Sunday February 15, 2026 @07:29PM (#47029356)

The former. It doesn't quite roll off the tongue, but with my (Australian) accent the difference is minor.

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Re:How often do full-body MRIs find cancer? by robocat on Sunday February 15, 2026 @08:37PM (#47029868)

Kiwi here - I'll use the word with my friends in future because a label does help.

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