Incidental whole body MRI findings in a population cohort
Project lead: Prof. Dr. Carsten Schmidt, Prof. Dr. Jean-François Chenot
Project researcher: Dr. Adrian Richter, Dr. Elizabeth Sierocinski
Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become increasingly more important in population-based research. However, MRIs may yield numerous tumor-related incidental findings which may trigger diagnostics, such as biopsies. Such findings may enable timely treatment, offering potential improvement of quality and length of life, but on the other hand, overtesting and overdiagnosis may occur, thus incurring additional healthcare costs as well as psychosocial costs.
The Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) pioneered in this field as it was the first in the world to implement a whole-body MRI examination in two population cohorts (SHIP-2/ SHIP-Trend; N = 6753 examined, of which 3371 with MRI). Approximately one in three MRI participants received a clinically potentially relevant finding.
Publication
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