# Whole-body MRI

Source: https://onco.cc/technologies/whole-body-mri/  
OnCo record `whole-body-mri` (Technology). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Whole-body MRI is an MRI of the entire body without radiation, used to find spread in myeloma and to screen people with high inherited cancer risk.

## Summary

Whole-body MRI acquires multiple stations of MRI, including diffusion-weighted imaging, and stitches them into a single view of the entire body without radiation. It is standard in multiple myeloma under IMWG criteria because of its sensitivity to bone marrow disease, and for surveillance in Li-Fraumeni syndrome, where the absence of radiation matters for people scanned for life. It is being evaluated for response assessment in metastatic prostate and breast cancer through the MET-RADS framework, since bone metastases are hard to measure on CT. Strengths are repeatability and marrow sensitivity; the main limitations are long scan times and incidental findings in screening use. Commercial 'full-body scan' services for average-risk people are controversial for that reason. It is a radiation-free scan of the whole body, most valuable in myeloma and in people with high inherited cancer risk.

## Fields

- Kind: Technology
- Status: established
- Last checked: 2026-09-04
- Principle: Multi-station MRI with diffusion-weighted imaging stitched into a whole-body view.
- Strengths: No radiation, so repeatable; Bone marrow sensitivity
- Limitations: Long scan; Incidental findings in screening use

## Sources

- NICE NG35: myeloma diagnosis and management (whole-body MRI as first-line imaging): https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng35

## Connected records

- cancers: [Multiple myeloma](https://onco.cc/cancers/multiple-myeloma/), [Newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, transplant-eligible](https://onco.cc/cancers/myeloma-transplant-eligible/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/), [Smouldering multiple myeloma](https://onco.cc/cancers/smouldering-myeloma/)
- fronts: [Early Detection & Screening](https://onco.cc/fronts/early-detection/), [Imaging](https://onco.cc/fronts/imaging/)
- technologies: [Breast MRI coils and abbreviated breast MRI](https://onco.cc/technologies/breast-mri-coils-abbreviated-mri/), [MRI](https://onco.cc/technologies/mri/), [MRI field strengths: 1.5 T, 3 T and 7 T](https://onco.cc/technologies/mri-field-strengths/), [Total-body PET for screening and ultra-low-dose imaging](https://onco.cc/technologies/total-body-pet-screening/)
- companies: [Adialante](https://onco.cc/companies/adialante/)
- trials: [FOcal RECurrent Assessment and Salvage Treatment](https://onco.cc/trials/nct01883128/), [Imaging Staging and Response Prediction in Metastatic Hormono-Sensitive Prostate Cancer Patients Receiving Enzalutamide](https://onco.cc/trials/nct02815033/), [PET/CT and WB MRI for Staging and Response in CRPC Patients Receiving Enzalutamide](https://onco.cc/trials/nct02814968/)
- roadmaps: [Early detection roadmap: organ screening → blood tests for many cancers](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/early-detection-roadmap/)
- bottlenecks: [Metastasis is understood least and studied last](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-metastasis-biology/)
- ideas: [A 28-day national pathway for people with a positive multi-cancer blood test](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-mced-positive-resolution-pathway/), [A whole-population cancer interception programme: risk-stratify every adult, detect and intercept early](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-population-interception/), [Match each blood-detected clone to the lesion it comes from on the scan](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio1-clone-to-lesion-mapping/), [Treat brain metastases as a disease with its own trials programme](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-fund-brain-metastases-programme/), [When the blood test is positive, hunt for the lesion with sensitive imaging](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-localise-the-mrd/), [Whole-body MRI plus blood DNA surveillance for people with Li-Fraumeni syndrome](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-prev-li-fraumeni-mri-plus-cfdna/)
- terms: [Early detection](https://onco.cc/terms/early-detection-term/), [Hereditary cancer syndromes](https://onco.cc/terms/hereditary-cancer-syndromes/), [Li-Fraumeni syndrome (germline TP53)](https://onco.cc/terms/li-fraumeni/)
- institutions: [The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)](https://onco.cc/institutions/sickkids/)
- pathways: [Organ tropism: seed and soil](https://onco.cc/pathways/organ-tropism-seed-soil/)

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