Diagnostic delay associated with commercial full-body MRI scans

While direct-to-consumer whole-body MRI screening is criticised for overdiagnosis, this case report highlights an opposite risk: false reassurance. A case of a 75-year-old man with a 6.7 cm axillary melanoma metastasis found via a self-referred MRI is presented. A similar unindicated scan two years prior revealed a 2.4 cm lymph node but prompted no clinical follow-up. Consequently, massive tumour growth remained unnoticed. This illustrates the danger of separating imaging from clinical responsibility, inducing false reassurance and a two-year diagnostic delay.