White House releases details of President Trump’s MRI scan
The White House has released details of an MRI scan taken as part of President Donald Trump’s “comprehensive administrative medical examination.”
Jennifer Warman is a fashion influencer. But this November, she ditched her usual extravagant look and donned a hospital gown in downtown Chicago. She underwent a full body MRI. Over the past few years, many celebrities have promoted it on social media as a must-have test for early diagnosis. After all, even if something gets stuck inside your body, no matter how minor, it’s better than nothing, right?
Warman, 49, put on a dressing gown, cleaned herself with an enema and then lay flat for the SIMONONE test, which is similar to a typical MRI. The technician taught her what to do (and how to breathe). Although she doesn’t like small spaces, she didn’t feel claustrophobic as the machine scanned her organs. Everything from her brain, liver, head to pelvis. beep. beep. beep. It was like lying down and taking a nap, and the whole process took less than an hour.
Four days later, her phone rang. they found something. She needed a CT scan. Gulp. The results revealed a “very small aneurysm,” she said.
A neurologist examined it further and noted that it was “small enough that it was not an emergency.”
Phew.
Standard blood tests can tell you a lot, but right now they can only tell you so much. According to Dr. Sean Raj, SimonMed’s chief medical officer and chief innovation officer, the benefit of whole-body MRI is that “we can see things before the biomarkers in the blood start to show abnormalities.”
Like many Americans, Warman doesn’t always see a doctor every year. She exercises and eats right, but she knows that many people catch cancer early. According to an American Cancer Society study released in 2024, colorectal cancer is one of 17 types of cancer that are on the rise among Gen X and Millennials. Breast cancer, liver cancer, and ovarian cancer are also on the rise. In Warman’s view, a full-body scan every few years is a small price to pay for a broader test. But is it the right choice for everyone? It depends.
“I wish everyone needed that,” she says. “I know. I just think it would be helpful. But I know not everyone wants to know things. Some people want to know after they feel something or hear something from their doctor.”
What does it mean to be proactive about your health?
What was Warman’s next step? “[The neurologist]said he didn’t feel I needed to do anything. In fact, many people live with small aneurysms,” she added. It’s a lot like what happened when Kim Kardashian discovered it recently. Warman has set up a scan for 2026 to make sure it’s not growing. The biggest thing her doctor advised her to do was to watch her cholesterol, blood pressure and stress levels. If you experience severe headaches or loss of vision, you should call 911.
Yes, nothing ended up happening, but she’s glad she got this preventative care, even if it meant requiring (and paying for) scans every year to check for aneurysms. She is glad that her boyfriend also underwent a full body scan. He plans to have the tumor removed from his lung in February. It’s probably not cancerous, but they don’t want it to grow and affect his breathing.
SimonMed’s full body scan looks for everything from tumors to blood vessel problems. “We’re looking for changes in all the organs and looking again for symptoms before they become a problem for you,” says Raj. The company offers two packages. The classic simonONE ($650, $950 in some areas) examines the torso and the parenchymal organs in the abdomen and pelvis. Not only does cancer occur here, but chronic liver disease and kidney problems also occur. SimonONE Plus ($1,250, $1,850 in some areas) also includes brain and female reproductive organ evaluation and includes enhanced prostate cancer screening. Insurance does not cover the test.
Like anything else, scans aren’t perfect. “I think the main argument against full-body scans is that you can find incidental findings that you would never have known about,” Raj says. Even if you have an aneurysm or cancer, you can go to your grave without feeling any discomfort. But what if we could stop the disease before it ravages the body? This is a cost-effectiveness that patients must consider when considering these diagnostic tests.
Raj says that no matter what is written, the key is to give patients clear expectations up front and an actionable plan for what to do after the test.
SimonMed competes with more expensive services like Prenuvo (options range from $999 to $4,499). SimonMed focuses not only on full-body scans, but also on ultrasounds, CTs, and X-rays.
No large randomized trials have shown that whole-body MRI scans alone reduce overall mortality. Still, Large says, “internal data shows that we’re making progress in finding very small cancers, and if we have room to expand our research, we could actually show a meaningful reduction in mortality. But what we do know is that “Patients who come to see us are directed to care coordination and directed to additional imaging tests.”While this may prevent cancer from being detected too late, it also increases the financial burden on consumers seeking additional testing. Again, as with the Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) blood test, we are weighing the risks and benefits.
“Especially since COVID-19, there has been a huge increase in consumers’ desire to stay healthy and be proactive in their healthcare,” Raj added.
how is that the best I’m still wondering if I’ll be proactive.
