The chamber of an MRI machine is a surreal environment. Bones, organs, blood vessels exposed. I do know I find getting an MRI an existentially jarring experience. Before the technician loads you into the machine, you are you —an individual with ideas and plans and memories; inside the machine, you are a body. Because I want to peer into the black box of my body. Because I want to live. Prenuvo is the best known among a generation of biotech start-ups offering preventive whole-body scans.
Most care originates with a specific complaint—nausea, dizziness, a weird bump, etc. You see a doctor, and the doctor orders tests. Separate complaints, separate doctors, and separate tests. Prenuvo, cofounded by Lacy and Attariwala later that year, now boasts nine locations across North America, with 10 more set to open soon.
Demand is high. According to the company, it covers 26 regions and organs in about an hour and screens for more than conditions. It purportedly can detect most solid tumors at stage I, when they are typically asymptomatic, as well as aneurysms, signs of diseases like fatty liver, and compressions in the spinal column that—if left to progress—can lead to loss of mobility later in life.
Which is where the controversy comes in. And then you have to get another test to see what that spot is. Maybe several tests. Or they may be dangerous in and of themselves, like CT scans that expose patients to high levels of radiation.
In that case, is it good to hunt down every errant cell? Can we really head off all degeneration and disease? What, in the grand scheme, are we asking for from new diagnostics like Prenuvo? When I pose this query to Smith-Bindman, her first response is a long sigh. My own visit to Prenuvo went like this: I checked in, filled out a probing digital questionnaire—me, my lifestyle, my family medical history, etc.
