Common questions

30 to 60 minutes in the scanner, depending on which package you chose, plus 15–20 minutes for check-in and changing. Plan for a two-hour visit and you will not be rushed.

No. MRI uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves. There is no ionizing radiation, which is the main reason it is usable as a repeatable screen where CT is not.

Not for the screening protocol. No IV, no gadolinium. If a finding needs characterizing, a follow-up study with contrast may be recommended, and that is a separate, billable exam.

Tell us in the screener. Most centers can offer a wide-bore scanner, headphones, and a companion in the room. Some can arrange oral anxiolytic medication with a prescription, but that has to be organised in advance and you cannot drive afterwards.

Scanner bore size and table weight limits vary by center, commonly around 550 lbs and a 70 cm bore. The center will confirm when they schedule you.

Say so in the screener and stop there. Some cardiac devices, cochlear implants, aneurysm clips, and retained metal fragments are unsafe in an MRI scanner: the magnetic field can move them or heat them. Many modern implants are MRI-conditional, meaning safe under specific settings. That determination is made by the imaging center's technologist and radiologist, using your implant card, before you go anywhere near the magnet.

Elective screening MRI is not performed during pregnancy. There is no radiation, but there is also no reason to screen an asymptomatic pregnant person, so the answer is to wait.

See a doctor, not us. A diagnostic scan ordered for your specific symptom is a better test, is read in the context of your history, and is usually covered by insurance. Buying a screening scan to investigate a symptom is the wrong tool and it can delay a real work-up.

We only screen adults 18 and over.

Something, quite likely. Something that matters, much less so. Published series of whole-body MRI in asymptomatic adults report incidental findings in a large fraction of scans, while the rate of previously unknown cancer found is on the order of a low single-digit percentage. Most of what shows up is benign: cysts, hemangiomas, degenerative changes.

Real, and worth thinking about before you book. An ambiguous finding can mean months of surveillance imaging, a specialist referral, a biopsy with its own complication risk, and sustained anxiety, for something that would never have harmed you. This is the central trade-off of screening healthy people and it is why professional bodies have not endorsed whole-body MRI as a population screen.

No. It means nothing visible was found on this scan, on this day, at this resolution. Small lesions, lung nodules, colon polyps, and blood cancers can all be missed. Keep up with the screening tests that do have randomized trial evidence behind them: mammography, colonoscopy, cervical screening, and low-dose CT if you have a smoking history.

A board-certified radiologist at our imaging partners. Mirovita is not a medical practice and does not interpret images.

Yes. The report and the imaging are yours, in a form you can share with your own physician.

We use it to contact you and to hand your scheduling request to the imaging center you selected. We do not sell it. Screener answers are used to route your request internally and are not passed on wholesale. Full detail is in the privacy policy.

Yes, directly with the imaging center, which handles the appointment. Their cancellation terms apply.

[email protected].