What is Whole Body MRI?
“When it comes to aging – doing it gracefully is key. Whole Body MRI can help.”
– Deepak Das MD, President/CEO
Whole Body MRI screening is one of our new offerings which allows you to scan your body’s entire “core” to find medical problems in their early stages. Focused on prevention and early detection over all else, the Whole Body MRI includes your head, neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis which are the most likely locations of chronic or early medical problems. MRI imparts no X-ray radiation to the body and can be repeated multiple times without causing radiation related harm.
We also specialize the scan based on women’s, men’s, and unique individual transgender needs (call for consultation if you have unique medical needs). A woman will get an additional MRI of both Breasts with and without contrast. A man will get an additional MRI of the prostate with and without contrast.
***Please be advised that Whole Body MRI is considered an optional exam, and is not specifically recommended to prevent or treat any illness. As of 08/30/2022, there are currently no FDA, ACR or other imaging guidelines regarding the utilization of Whole Body MRI. Patients acquiring a Whole Body MRI must understand that it is not intended to replace any current medical recommendations made by their physician or radiologist.***
Whole Body MRI Q & A
Please remember to bring your Prescription, Photo Identification, and payment if they have not already been submitted by your referring physician!
If you are self-referring without physician oversight, please be prepared to bring your Photo ID and payment. You will be asked to sign self-referral waivers at the front desk. Please ask at the front desk if there are any available promotional rates.
Generally, the preparation for Whole Body MRI is similar to that of other MRIs. Since part of our whole body MRI Scan is contrast enhanced, please refer to the requirements below.
Allergies: If you have a gadolinium allergy or have had a reaction to MRI contrast material in the past or are suffering from any kidney disease then you should notify our office when you are making the appointment, and also at the time of the scan during the on-site questionnaire provided by the technician. Please note that IV and oral contrast are not the same substance, and an allergy to an IV contrast does not prevent you from drinking oral contrast.
Labs: If your MRI requires IV contrast, we will need you to provide a kidney function test called the “GFR” level within 45 days of your exam. If your GFR is 30 or below, you would not be eligible for a contrast-enhanced scan, but you may be able to get a non-contrast scan depending on your clinical situation.
Medications: If you are taking a diabetic medication called Glucophage, please alert us at the time of your appointment, as this medicine needs to be withheld for 2 days after you receive IV contrast material to avoid kidney problems. Otherwise, please take all your medications normally.
Pregnancy: Please inform our office and technologist if you know or think that you are pregnant. Although MRI poses no known direct risk to a fetus, we generally avoid giving contrast to women who are pregnant to avoid dosing the fetus. Please discuss this with your referring physician.
The procedure is considered a non-invasive, same day procedure.
During the MRI scan, you will be asked to rest motionless on a padded table. You may be asked to temporarily hold or slow your breathing during some parts of the scan. The table moves gently as the images are obtained.
If receiving IV contrast, the technician will place an IV shortly before the procedure. The IV reaction itself feels warm as it goes through your arm.
The basic Whole Body MRI generally involves a combination of 6 equivalent MRIs for most people. Expect a total scan time to be somewhere between 2-3 hours (with short breaks inbetween)
After the procedure, most patients have no discomfort and can be discharged immediately.
Your routine results are normally interpreted within 5 business days by our specialty trained radiologist physicians and submitted to your referring physician automatically. If self-referring, we will notify you when your studies are complete. You may opt to pick them up in person or view them through our online patient portal. If picking up in person, please call ahead to make sure your reports are complete before coming on-site. Also, please be kind to your referring provider and allow them a few business days to review the results we provide before contacting them.
Coming Soon
Whole Body MRI can be used to find early tumors, anatomic abnormalities, inflammatory disorders, and other conditions. Whole Body MRI often exceeds the requirements for screening protocols currently established and is considered an adjunctive high-end diagnostic tool. Whole Body MRI imparts no radiation dose to the body, which makes it a unique form of screening tool.
Whole body MRI is currently under a promotional rate of $2,119 for the Core examination. You can opt to add a specific joint like a shoulder or knee for an additional rate of 250 per joint.
Currently, insurance *does not* cover Whole Body MRI, as there are no current ACR or USPTF recommendations for it. However, your doctor, or you yourself can order a whole body MRI for any reason. Please note that if you are ordering for yourself, without physician oversight, you will have to sign a separate release form and patient responsibility waiver.
Whole Body MRI has the same restrictions as any standard MRI. Patients with pacemakers, brain aneurysm coils, some older cardiac stents (prior to 2000 or foreign), neural and bladder stimulators, penile prosthetics, and others may not be eligible. You can speak with a technician if you have a more specific question.
The whole body MRI includes a total of 6 total scans for most people.
We do not swap the MRI Breast for 3D Breast mammograms. They are inherently different scans, with different benefits. However, you are welcome to order the 3D Screening breast screening mammogram separately. If you are aged 40 or above, or have strong personal or family risk factors for early breast cancer, we recommend you do this. Most screening breast mammograms are covered by insurance for women 40 and over, so we recommend conserving cash and going through normal insurance routes for a 3D mammogram. Also, removing the breast MRI from your screening Whole Body MRI does not change the bundled promotional price.
We do not swap the MRI Chest for a Chest CT. They are inherently different scans, with different benefits. However, you are welcome to order a Screening Chest CT in addition to your whole body MRI exam. If you are a smoker or have had significant exposure to second hand smoke, or have a high risk of cancer, we recommend that you do this. Most screening Chest CTs are covered by insurance for high risk patients, so we recommend conserving cash and going through normal insurance routes for a Screening Chest CT. Also, removing the MRI Chest from your screening Whole Body MRI does not change the bundled promotional price.
Yes! You can receive a CD of your individual studies after the procedure. Please be advised that we do not utilize flash drives due to the risk of computer virus transmission. Burning a CD may take up to 30 minutes depending on the size of your study
We highly advise against excluding components of the exam as this would decrease the screening efficacy of your whole body MRI. We generally convert the contrast enhanced components to non- enhanced components only if you have a severe allergy to Gadolinium MRI dye, or if you have kidney dysfunction. There is no change to the price of the promotional rate if you exclude any component.
If your doctor requests that a specific targeted scan be performed (ex: MRI hepatic protocol with and without contrast), these would have to be done separately on a different day, as the amount of contrast we can give at once is limited.
Your specific Whole Body MRI may need to be tailored based on your current anatomic or hormonal gender. Most transgender patients will fall into either a male or female category, although some may require customization of the scan itself. There is no change in the price of a Whole Body MRI for customizing to your specific gender needs. If you can give me some more information on your status, I can touch base with the radiologist to let you know exactly what would work best for you…
Why choose Excel for a Whole Body MRI?
At Excel, we are pleased to say that we have consolidated our imaging into one super-center. Unlike many of other of our competitors, we offer full radiology coverage at a single site to include X-ray, Ultrasound, Mammography, Nuclear Medicine, CT, MRI, PET/CT, and Interventional Radiology.
What does this mean to you?
It means that unlike other centers, you only need to go to one location to receive virtually all of your diagnostic imaging – we are a “One-stop shop.”
Medical conditions often involve multiple different organs and can have complexities that affect multiple body parts. Having your imaging split between multiple centers makes it difficult (if not impossible) for physicians to understand the full picture of your body and your illness.
It means that unlike other centers, your images and studies are interpreted by a small group of radiologists that know and consult with one another. Your study and images are not split up between dozens or hundreds of radiologists.
Having your all your imaging performed in one center, also limits the total number of radiologists assigned to your case. We avoid the scenarios that other larger corporations have where they have 50-100 radiologists assigned to any one patient, resulting in a different set of eyes and conflicts of opinion for every single study or organ. Basically, the larger organizations suffer from having “too many cooks in the kitchen.” At Excel, in general, less than 3 radiologists are assigned to any one patient, and all of them communicate regularly with each other to improve and discuss your care. Giving you and your referring physician the complete picture of you, is our primary job, and something we Excel at (pun intended).
It means that your medical images are readily available for an Interventional Radiologist (IR) to treat your conditions.
We are incredibly proud to have partnered with our sister company, Emergency and Interventional Specialists, to provide micro-invasive techniques. If your imaging shows an abnormality that can be treated in a micro-invasive way, your Interventional Radiologist (IR) has complete and ready access to the images to plan the intervention – sometimes without even needing to perform a separate consult!
We can then use the high-quality images from CT, ultrasound, and X-rays to guide our hands while we perform the procedure. These techniques can be applied to more than 90% of patients who need a biopsy or other minimally invasive procedure. This means that you no longer need to go to a hospital to get an invasive surgery or procedure to get these done. Surgical risks, recovery time, and intraprocedural pain are significantly reduced (our risks of major complications is less than 1%, and are below the national average for many biopsies). Most of our patients say that having a procedure done at Excel is even easier than going to their dentist for a filling.
Additionally, costs of procedures are drastically reduced since most procedures do not require sedation, or prolonged post-procedural overnight observation. Our costs are so low, that many patients opt to self-pay for their procedure, since our rates are often lower than their deductible payments through insurance (especially if the insurance plan does not have outpatient reimbursement for the procedure). Imagine turning a $10,000 procedure previously performed in a hospital, into a $500 procedure that has lower risk and recovery time. This isn’t just your imagination, it’s what we do at Excel – everyday.
It means we have open lines of communication with your referring physician to make your care more efficient, safe, and accurate.
Radiologists are physicians that are often called a “physician’s physician.” We help your referring doctors put together the story, combining the clinical scenario with what your medical imaging shows to find the best course of action. Being smaller and non-corporate, your doctor may even have our radiologists’ cellphones on their speed dial!
Contrast this with the larger corporations, who have a revolving door of dozens to hundreds of radiologists, multiple call centers, and layers of administration. Your referring physician may struggle to even speak with a radiology assistant, much less the radiologists themselves. This slows down and can complicate your diagnosis and downstream care.
Connecting to your physician, and finding the root cause of your medical illness, is what we Excel at.
Last but not least…
We are the only independent, family owned, free-standing, full-service, and fully outpatient, diagnostic and interventional radiology center in New Port Richey. We are one of the few combined diagnostic and interventional practices in the Tampa Bay Area and Gulf Coast. Even on a national level, there are only a few dozen practices like ours across the United States. And to top it all off, we are a small business.
Choosing us for your care helps us support our local community in many ways, from being involved with local charities to funding after school programs among others. We are proud of what we are and what we represent, and aim to bring you the best of our services everyday.