Body Scans: Preventive Medicine or a Precursor to Problems?

Maybe you’ve seen the fliers floating around your neighborhood, delivered with your newspaper, distributed at your church or dispensed at the local senior center. The headline on some iridescent colored paper, in bold black letters, might read something like “How do you know you don’t have a ‘silent’ tumor unless you look?”

These typical scare tactics are used to hawk total body scans using ultrasound.

In my neck of the woods, a company that does these scans offers three packaged deals from which to choose. Package #1 offers a “heart/stroke” scan for $275; Package #2 is the “cancer/organ” scan, also for $275; and for those who want to be really sure, there is Package #3, the full-body scan, which includes all of the above for $500.

The ads are often accompanied by testimonials from customers who say the scans saved their lives by finding tumors they never would’ve discovered until it was too late.

Ultrasound is a wonderful visualization technology and is used without controversy in many areas such as fetal imaging and pregnancy problems, musculoskeletal injuries, pediatric procedures and for many other medical problems. But criticism comes when companies with the machines – either stationary or portable – try to sell the idea of scanning “just in case” to the “worried well.”

Some experts say that ultrasound finds a lot of things that would never become problems, but once you find them, doctors are obligated to perform biopsies or other invasive procedures that carry risks. Others argue that the portable machines do not meet the standards of stationary scanners, and that technicians performing the portable scans are not qualified.

Still others find the marketing of these procedures unethical – like the fliers that are widely distributed in places where seniors gather. The fliers we recently received shouted in bold black letters that “A BODY SCAN Can Save Your Life!”

And, of course, scans cost money -- cash preferred. Insurance rarely covers scans unless they have been ordered by a physician for a specific reason.

I admit that it’s a hard call sometimes as to whether these scans are worthwhile or not. I’m sure my cousin would say that they are. He had a scan and doctors discovered a malignant tumor in his kidney for which he had no symptoms. Because they caught the tumor early, they were able to remove it and save the rest of the kidney.

But most of the time, doctors say, when patients bring the results of these scans into their offices, they feel obligated to order further tests, and most of the time these additional tests result in no negative findings. On rare occasions, the additional tests cause serious problems.

When people ask me whether I think getting a scan is a good idea, I tell them both sides of the story and that they have to decide for themselves.

Do you think that elective body scans a good idea?

What do you or would you tell people when asked?

Have you any type of scan without a doctor's order and has it given you peace of mind?

Tell us what you think.