re: Women gets full body MRI.. Discovers she has non-ruptured aneurysm

Wonder how much a full body MRI would set me back?

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Anyone here get this done? I've been considering some elective medical tests but hard to know whats worth paying for.

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I’ve been getting CT scans done for about ten years. You don’t want to do them too often because of radiation doses. There is a lot of debate about whether these are useful. The negative is that this woman probably would have died of old age if this had been undiscovered, but instead she ran the risk of dying from complications of surgery. The risks have to be balanced. Doctors will err on the side of encouraging patients to take action, even if the action has larger risks than the diagnosed condition.

If you are over 40 I suggest you get a CT scan and a CT Angiogram. You’ll be out about $5,000. You should do these periodically depending on the findings. I suggest a CT scan every 10 years. The CT Angiogram is by far the best way to detect heart and circulatory problems. If it shows you are golden then you can probably wait ten years to do it again.

Yeah it was diagnostic. I was getting symptoms of exercise induced compartment syndrome. Ortho said it was overuse due to my running. Ortho asked me if I wanted to see the back specialist. Thought maybe the pain was sciatica. I brought my old mri scans and he said let's get a new one. That led to a laminectomy & tumor removal. At any point before finding I could have just tried to deal with it. I had been struggling with my runs but what else is knew. Full scan sounds like a great idea.

This happened to me... sort of.

In May 2016, I started coughing on a work trip and ended up at an urgent care facility. I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I was hurting all over - chest, back, body aches, you name it. I just figured I had the super flu, right?

Made it through the week and flew back home on Saturday. Sunday morning I was hurting all over bad enough that my wife insisted that I go to the emergency room. They performed a chest MRI on me, maybe a CT scan, I wasn't too lucid at the time.

The doc came in and said "There's good news and bad news. The good news is that your pneumonia is starting to clear up. The bad news is that you'll be coughing for a while (took two months to clear that cough up). "

"And additionally, we see that you have gall stones and a 12mm kidney stone. Those are why you've been hurting. And finally, you have an ascending aortic aneurysm, we have scheduled a visit for you with a cardiologist on Monday morning at 8 AM. Do not miss this appointment."

I ultimately found out that I have a bicuspid valve heart defect. My valve was working but the flow dynamics meant that a jet squirt of blood had been pounding my aortic wall instead of a nice even flow. The shape of my aorta right above my heart looked like an upside down light bulb. I was measuring 5.2 sm at that time, and in December when I had my surgery, measured 5.5 cm. They told me that at over 6.0 cm, you have a 20% chance every DAY of a rupture. Normal measurements for a man my age and body size is normally 2.5-3.5 cm.

I haven't done anything about my gall stones, but had a lithotripsy for the kidney stone (I have had many of those, I am a kidney stone factory). And had a valve sparing root replacement in December of that year at NY Presbyterian hospital, that procedure (the David procedure) is not something they did at UAB at the time, or even Emory or Vandy. The guy I used at NYP had performed this surgery over 200 times in 2016 when I saw him in late September on a visit.

I spent most of December 2016 living in a hotel in upper Manhattan, and now I have a five inch section of polyester tubing sewn to the top of my heart - they were able to save my aortic valve. My chest x-rays show 5 titanium plates, two stainless steel wires, two medical grade cable ties, and 26 titanium screws. But, they tell me that this is a lifetime fix, and I have had no problems with my heart at all since then.

The heart doctor told me that I flat out would not have made it through the spring. The insidious part is that the aneurysm is totally asymptomatic. It causes no pain or symptoms until it blows out (called a dissection). There is a 98.5% mortality rate if that happens. For those of you old enough to remember, this is what killed Lucille Ball and John Ritter. Alabama fans may remember that this was also a problem for Freddie Kitchens, but he ended up having surgery as I did.

Sorry for the long post - but there's no question that a chest scan for another problem I was having... ultimately saved my life. Highly recommended that you try to get one once you turn 50, just like a colonoscopy.

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If you are over 40 I suggest you get a CT scan and a CT Angiogram.

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The CT Angiogram is the preferred method cardiologist use to assess heart issues.

LINK

LINK

There is a new method of scanning for heart issues, the Cleerly heart scan analysis. It uses AI tech to look for heart issues.

LINK

As far as the subject matter of the OP, how effective is 'full body MRI' in spotting diseases and other issues? IDK

The MRI has certain advantages over a CT scan and vice-versa.
Sometimes, a basic X-Ray is all that is needed to check for certain issues.

CTs and MRIs use different technologies to show different things — neither is necessarily ’better’ than the other

CTvsMRI

A good comprehensive blood test can alert your doctor to potential health issues.
Things like hemoglobin, A1C, homocysteine's, PSAs, C-reactive proteins levels...can alert your Doc to lots of potential health issues.

Is a 'virtual colonoscopy' superior to a standard colonoscopy? IDK. That's still being debated by Gastroenterologists.

MRI's are used to look for prostate cancers. I get my PSAs, the ole finger test and a basic X-Ray yearly to check for prostate issues. An MRI is useless in my case because I have a hernia mesh implant in my lower left groin.

BTW, I am not a medical professional. I am trying to learn about all this stuff because ole father time is catching up with me.

My wife and I are part of an "executive physical" program via my employer.

Every year we get a full physical. Some years it's a calcium scan, some years it's a MRI of the torso. She had one a few years ago and one again last year. They found an aortic aneurysm doing these scans. It's not big enough for surgery yet but we are watching it closely.

I know several folks personally who have had their lives saved by doing these preventive type exams.

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Blackburn details in a now-viral TikTok her decision to take a big leap concerning her own healt

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And there you have it…even the most private things like your health take a back seat to views on Tik Tok with these idiots. These morons have no shame or self respect. They would eat white dog shite off the ground if it got Tik Tok views. China is laughing at us right now because of these pathetic kids.