Kim Kardashian promotes $2,500 full-body scan: Why are health experts warning against it?

American celebrity Kim Kardashian is facing flak for promoting a costly full-body scan on her Instagram handle.  Health experts have warned against undertaking such scans, which the billionaire described as “lifesaving”.

On Tuesday (8 August), Kardashian posted a series of pictures of herself standing next to a Prenuvo machine. “I recently did this @prenuvo scan and had to tell you all about this life saving machine,” the 42-year-old wrote, adding this was not a paid advertisement.

“The Prenuvo full-body scan has the ability to detect cancer and diseases such as aneurysms in its earliest stages, before symptoms arise. It was like getting a MRI for an hour with no radiation. It has really saved some of my friends lives and I just wanted to share #NotAnAd.”

It must be noted that even in regular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans there is no risk of radiation exposure.

Soon, her post was filled with critical comments, with some people calling her “tone-deaf”.

What does the Prenuvo scan entail? Why are health experts against such full-body scans? Let’s take a closer look.

$2,500 for body scan

The full-body scan that the reality star underwent cost $2,500 (around Rs 2,00,000), as per People magazine. This scan looks for disc herniation, musculoskeletal conditions, fatty liver disease and multiple sclerosis (MS), as per Prenuvo’s website.

The “comprehensive” scan can also “assesses your anatomy, including major organs and spines,” and is capable of detecting “solid tumours 1.5cm or larger,” “malignant cancer compared to benign conditions such as cysts, hematoma, hemangiomas and absecesses,” and “potentially treatable brain aneurysms”, claims Prenuvo’s website, noted The Independent.

According to Forbes, the company, founded by entrepreneur Andrew Lacy and MRI physicist and radiologist Rajpaul Attariwala in 2018, also offers a head and torso scan that is priced at $1,799 (about Rs 1,49,000). A torso scan at Prenuvo costs $999 (over Rs 80,000).

Fans slam Kim Kardashian

The Kardashians star, who has 363 million Instagram followers, faced backlash for her post. Several of her fans pointed out that the scan is unaffordable for most of the general population of the United States.

“Kim, this is for wealthy people. People can’t afford food right now,” one person responded to her post.

Another commented, “The fact majority of society can’t even afford insurance for a simple wellness checkup.”

“This is SO tone-deaf. The majority of people in America could not afford to use this machine. The fact that she’s promoting medical devices that cost thousands is so ridiculous,” wrote another.

According to The Messenger, Prenuvo does not accept insurance for such scans. One critic of Kardashian’s post said that such “preventative care” would not be covered by most health insurance companies.

Health experts warn

The American College of Radiology (ACR), an organisation representing over 40,000 radiologists in the US, have said they do not recommend whole-body scanning for asymptomatic people, citing a lack of scientific evidence.

“To date, there is no documented evidence that total body screening is cost-efficient or effective in prolonging life. In addition, the ACR is concerned that such procedures will lead to the identification of numerous non-specific findings that will not ultimately improve patients’ health but will result in unnecessary follow-up testing and procedures, as well as significant expense,” the ACR said in a statement in April this year.

Matthew Davenport, vice chair of the ACR’s Quality and Safety Commission, told Insider last December that these scans are “a terrible idea.”

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Davenport said such imaging, which is not recommended by medical professionals, can cause harm to people as they undergo unnecessary testing.

As per the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), such celebrity-endorsed scans are not backed by “scientific evidence demonstrating that whole-body scanning of individuals without symptoms provides more benefit than harm to people being screened,” reported The Messenger.

Dr Stuart Fischer, internal medicine physician in New York, told Daily Mail, “This is not an appropriate screening tool for a multiplicity of human illnesses and potentially emergent conditions”.

Instead, Dr Fischer suggested taking medical advice from doctors for any health concerns. “There is no one screening test for human health. If there was, we’d all be very healthy indeed”.

“The appropriate screening tool to prevent illness is a good relationship with a medical care practitioner,” he added.

With inputs from agencies