The full-body MRI company attracting attention from healthcare providers to the Kardashians
Prenuvo, founded in 2018 by Andrew Lacy and Dr. Raj Attariwala, aims to make preventative whole-body imaging the future of medicine. With a single 45- to 60-minute scan, Prenuvo performs MRI imaging to detect cancer and other abnormalities early. Whole-body imaging is gaining popularity, with celebrities like the Kardashians turning to Prenuvo for a comprehensive baseline of their health risks.
Athletech News spoke with Daniel Durand, Prenuvo’s Chief Medical Officer, about the landscape of full-body imaging and experienced the scan firsthand to understand the buzz.
Durand’s career began in musculoskeletal and molecular imaging at Johns Hopkins. He later moved into roles bridging health and business, including consulting for McKinsey, co-founding the Clinical Transformation Group at Evelyn Health, and serving as Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Clinical Officer at LifeBridge Health.
“Throughout my career, I became increasingly aware of the shortcomings in preventive care,” Durand told Athletech News.
“While we have effective screening methods like colonoscopies and mammograms, the uptake is still low. Only about two-thirds of eligible individuals get screened, and when you consider the overall population that gets all recommended screenings, the number is shockingly low. This led me to conclude that the organ-by-organ approach is flawed, as it leaves gaps in detecting many potential health issues. In fact, only 14% of cancers are detected early, and that’s something we need to change.”
Daniel Durand, Chief Medical Officer, Prenuvo
Outdated Approaches
Durand concluded that the traditional physical exam is becoming outdated, as it often does not detect issues until too late. “At Prenuvo, we aim to replace the physical exam with a much more scientific and informative process, providing people with the knowledge they need to live longer, healthier lives,” Durand said. “This is the future of medicine, and that’s why I joined Prenuvo—leaving a job I loved to be part of this groundbreaking shift in healthcare.”
The Radiological Society of North America has published content about how whole-body imaging can cause issues for both patients and medical systems. Patients can feel confused about next steps after they receive their results, and medical systems, which are already busy, may become even more overburdened.
I was worried about such issues before getting a scan: what if something turned up that raised questions, requiring frequent follow-ups? When I arrived at Prenuvo, I found a space that felt like an elevated doctor’s office. It seemed quiet, which I later learned was because the brand staggered patients for a personalized feel.
The Process
Getting my scan was a seamless process. From start to finish, it took around 1.5 hours, including checking in, changing into MRI-compatible clothing, removing all jewelry, and entering the machine. I was not allowed to eat for about four hours before the MRI. The scan itself took around 45 minutes, during which I could watch Netflix while in the machine.
The MRI made some loud sounds, and I found it a little uncomfortable to lie absolutely still during the entire scan, but the television was a good distraction. Afterward, there was a great spread of snacks and drinks waiting for me, and the front desk told me that I might receive my results in as little as several days.
About a week later, I received my results. While getting the email out of the blue was a little stressful, I found the online portal easy to use, and it quickly alleviated many of my worries with its comprehensive explanations. I also had a consultation with a Prenuvo doctor, who explained my results from head to toe and suggested follow-ups. The service laid out the critical nature of each finding, with tags like “critical finding” and “informational finding.” The explanations of each finding also included recommendations.
After the recommendations, the Frequently Asked Questions section addressed several queries that might be your first stop on a frantic Google search. For example, under the “Lung Consolidation” section (which is explained as when the normal air within a segment of the lung is replaced by fluid, blood, or other substances), the questions included “What are the symptoms of consolidation?” and “Can diet and nutrition affect the growth of consolidation?”
Durand addressed the important balance of providing results like “informational findings,” which might not need immediate attention but might be worth keeping an eye on.
“One of the biggest challenges in healthcare today is striking the right balance between informing people about potential health issues and avoiding unnecessary anxiety or overburdening the healthcare system,” Durand said.
“At Prenuvo, we’re providing detailed information through our scans without the downsides of radiation or contrast agents. Unlike incidental findings in an emergency room scan, anything we find during a Prenuvo scan is something our patients want to know about. Our scans provide crucial insights into things like vascular disease, brain health, and even the early signs of cancer, without the immediate risks or complications associated with more invasive screening methods.”
Expansion Ahead
Even the “informational findings” from my scan were delivered in a way that felt useful and not overwhelming. Enough information was provided to alleviate anxiety, and I understood the potential next steps if I wanted to check on them. The only downside is one that is familiar to many: which doctor should I go to next?
Prenuvo will suggest particular types of specialists but does not source them for patients. To me, that made sense, as a list of partner doctors might represent a conflict of interest and potential thorny partnership issues. For “critical findings,” a Prenuvo doctor or nurse practitioner explains all the potential avenues, tailored to a patient’s individual needs.
With AI all the rage in the radiology space, Prenuvo is leveraging the technology as well. Durand explained the multiple ways the technology is used at the company.
“We use AI to compress MRI scan times, which allows us to offer high-quality, comprehensive scans in about 45 minutes,” Durand said.
“We’re also using AI in a research context to analyze the vast amount of whole-body MRI data we collect. This is enabling us to conduct research that would have been prohibitively expensive in the past. By using AI to automate the analysis of scans, we’re able to identify unexpected correlations between factors like visceral fat percentage and long-term brain health. Long-term, we envision AI playing an even greater role in helping us predict and stratify risk, ultimately improving the accuracy and effectiveness of our scans.”
Prenuvo is expanding rapidly. Those frustrated with the traditional healthcare system are turning to full-body MRI services to understand their health more comprehensively and proactively.
“Since 2018, when we had just one center in Vancouver, we’ve grown to 13 centers across the U.S. and Canada,” Durand said. “We’re continuing to expand, with plans to open 16 more centers in the next 12 months, including in Australia, Sweden, and the U.K. Additionally, we’ve established the Hercules Research Center in Boston, which focuses on health equity and provides free scans to individuals in Massachusetts who might not otherwise be able to afford them. We’re positioning ourselves to change the way medicine is practiced globally, making whole-body MRI screening accessible to a much larger population.”
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