Prenuvo
Summary
Prenuvo is arguably the most well-known large scale, corporate full-body MRI provider internationally, with many clinics through out the USA. To date this company has raised over 190 million dollars from investors to carry out full-body MRI screening, and more recently "Prenuvo Enhanced” (available in only in Silicon Valley) which includes Prenuvo’s own body-composition analysis, additional neurological assessments, and a blood test panel to complement the MRI scan.
This provider use 1.5T Philips platform a 50 minute full-body scan. Because these clinics are primarily Prenuvo owned, rather than partner clinics with comprehensive radiology providers, their imaging services are limited to MRI. In other words, Prenuvo scans do not include lung cover or evaluation of cardiovascular disease risk like other providers Ezra or Mermaid Beach Radiology.
Prenuvo clearly have a well-oiled machine facilitated by significant investment. Their patient experience includes onboarding exploratory calls, online portals, lay-person patient reports, and post-scan follow-up call.
However, Prenuvo comes in at the most expensive of the full-body MRI providers. However, despite the slower 1.5T platform, Prenuvo do acquire full-body DWIBS for greater sensitivity and tissue characterisation compared to other US-based 3T providers.
For Australians, Prenuvo is expected to arrive in Sydney in early 2025; with Melbourne expected later. Not much information is available publicly at this time. When choosing between Prenuvo’s 1.5T platform, and 3T full-body with DWIBS correction offered by Mermaid Beach Radiology, MRIQ recommends the latter for better value and greater health insights. Furthermore, Mermaid Beach Radiology regularly validates their screening scan with full-body MRI for oncology for extra layer of confidence.
Conditions Detected
Prenuvo state that they can detect over 500 conditions in their full-body scan. Unlike some Australian providers, Prenuvo goes through a significant effort list capabiliites. Some claimed capabilities are questionnable (e.g. breast cancer - what stage? as all full-body MRI can detect late state breast lesions) and appear to inflate the number of conditions detected. For example, the Prenuvo conditions page lists normal anatomical variations and even “indeterminant lesions as detected condition.
You can see a list of conditions detected by Prenuvo’s scan here.
Technology
Prenuvo uses Philips 1.5T MRI scanners to perform full-body screening.
Generally, 3T MRI offers superior soft-tissue contrast; however, in the case of full-body MRI screening the optimisation of the cancer-sensitive sequences (DWIBS) is challenging at 3T. Prenuvo discusses on their website that for full-body screening, 1.5T is superior to 3T due to ability to acquire clinically meaningful DWIBS. This holds true for providers who are unable to overcome the challenges of full-body application of DWIBS on 3T. However, does not hold for providers that are able to acquire geometrically-corrected DWIBS.
Cost
The Prenuvo full-body scan is $2499 USD, which equates to approximately $4000 AUD. This cost does not include low-dose CT chest or calcium score.
This makes this scan the most expensive available of the currently reviewed providers for Australians (or North Americans) willing to travel.
Patient Experience
Highlights of the Prenuvo experience include:
Great onboarding process with a discovery call prior to booking.
In the US, no referral required, but is required for other countries such as Canada. It will be interesting whether a referral is required for Australian providers, as this is currently a mixed bag for Australian providers, so requiring and others not.
Audio-visual experience similar to other providers (Mermaid Beach Radiology).
Patient lay-report provided in patient portal
Post-report follow call with trained nurse or other medical professional (not Radiologist or Doctor).
Compare
Prenuvo full-body MRI images have been reviewed by the team behind express permission from the individual.
To compare cost, inclusions, scan time, anatomical regions covered for other providers - please visit the comparison section of this site.
MRIQ Recommendation
If you are geographically restricted to North America, Prenuvo is an excellent option for sensitivity and patient experience and, in our opinion is superior to other providers using 3T MRI (based on imaging capabilities).
If you are willing to travel, MRIQ would recommend Mermaid Beach Radiology for more opportunistic health data (includes low-dose CT chest, liver quantification), superior sensitivity and precision as a result the use of a 3T platform with DWIBS correction.