Updated October 31, 2026, 11:50 a.m. ET
Joe Amabile is about to run his third marathon. But unlike his last two races, where the star of the “Bachelor” franchise pushed himself to the point of dehydration, this time, the forty-year-old simply hopes to finish the race. Indeed, he recently underwent brain surgery after a full body MRI revealed he had a malignant brain tumor.
Amabile detailed his health journey after revealing in July that he suffered from a low-grade astrocytoma, discovered during a Prenuvo scan. Doctors were eventually able to remove the “blueberry-sized” lesion. Amabile will receive follow-up MRIs every three months for a year, then it will increase to twice a year, then once a year after that. He also takes an IDH inhibitor daily, a medication that targets proteins responsible for the development and progression of tumors.
But does he need all of this in the first place, a bit like celebrity Busy Philipps?
You’ve probably seen countless celebrities sharing photos in stylish pajamas with Prenuvo technology glowing and booming in the background. Why wouldn’t you want to know if something was wrong with you? Humans crave reassurance. And when social media algorithms provide this assurance, it’s easy to see why these tests seem like a good idea to try.
More than 87% of social media influencer posts about tests including full-body MRI, early detection tests for multiple cancers and more offered a positive spin, according to a JAMA study published in February 2025; approximately 84% were overt promotions and 68% involved financial interests such as advertising or paid partnerships.
You may be wondering if such an analysis is worth it. Research shows that these tests often reveal something, but much less often an actual disease. A 2020 study found that 95% of asymptomatic patients had some type of “abnormal” result, but only 1.8% of those results were actually cancer. Research varies on the number of incidental findings resulting from these tests.
“I don’t know yet if I want to give advice on whole-body MRIs,” Amabile says. “I’ve heard so many conflicting things from doctors. I think in my case it’s been beneficial and I’m someone who wants to be proactive about (my) health.” Even his doctors told him, “This is why we don’t do a full body ultrasound.” Amabile’s neurosurgeon said he would most likely have had a seizure within five to 10 years, and his oncologist said it was possible it wouldn’t have happened for another 30 years.
In general, “whole-body MRI is in its clinical infancy,” Dr. Manjiri Dighe, a professor of radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, previously told USA TODAY. “While it is noninvasive and highly sensitive, it lacks the large-scale longitudinal data needed to prove that it saves more lives than it complicates through overdiagnosis.” With low availability and high cost, for the average person it remains a luxury item and not an “evidence-based medical necessity,” says Dighe. The tests cost anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on the body parts scanned, and are not covered by insurance.
In clinical practice, “I don’t personally see a lot of incidental lesions found on full-body MRI that I end up intervening on,” Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio, associate professor of neurological surgery at UCSF, previously told USA TODAY. “But I probably have colleagues who do it, so I don’t want to say it never happens, but I think it’s incredibly rare.”
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