Full-body MRI: A complete guide to preventive screening

Why don’t regular check-ups catch all serious diseases early?

Traditional healthcare is brilliant at solving acute or chronic problems. If you break your arm or get a sudden infection, or struggle from a chronic disease the system is designed to fix you.

Where it struggles is giving you a holistic view to better understand your body’s potential problems before they arise, such as with silent, slow-building diseases. Examples of these can be early-stage cancers, arterial plaque, or metabolic issues, which often develop for years without any symptoms. By the time you feel something is wrong, the problem may be advanced and much harder to treat. This is the gap where, for many health-conscious people, uncertainty and anxiety live.

While there are several check-ups today that seek to detect serious diseases early, many look at a limited set of data points at one point in time. By adding more data points from different sources (e.g., blood and imaging data), we can triangulate the results to increase the confidence in the findings.

Shift from reactive care to proactive health

Proactive health means using technology to understand your body's baseline and find potential issues early. It’s about giving you more clarity. Instead of wondering "What if?" you get a data-driven answer: "Here is your health status today."

This shift gives you the power to make informed decisions, whether that's peace of mind, specific lifestyle changes, or early, targeted medical follow-up.

What is a full-body MRI?

A full-body Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan is a non-invasive procedure that uses powerful magnets and radio waves to create highly detailed, cross-sectional images of your internal structures.

Crucially, it does this without using any ionising radiation (unlike a CT scan or X-ray). It is a safe and effective way to get a deep look inside your body.

What can a full-body MRI actually show?

A common question we get is, "What will you really see?" A preventive full-body MRI is a screening tool designed to scan major body regions for significant abnormalities.

Think of it as a comprehensive survey of your anatomy. It provides a clear view of:

• Key organs: MRIs can screen the brain, thyroid, liver, spleen, kidneys, pancreas, and gallbladder, looking for structural abnormalities like tumours, cysts, or inflammation.

• The aorta: The scan checks your body's main artery (the aorta), for dangerous enlargements, or "aneurysms," which are typically silent until they become a medical emergency.

• The brain: It also screens for brain aneurysms, which are also typically silent until they become a medical emergency, potentially leading to stroke.

• The musculoskeletal system: It screens the entire spine for significant issues like large herniated discs, vertebral compression, or tumours. It also provides a view of major joints.

• Pelvic organs: The scan provides a detailed look at the prostate and seminal vesicles (in men) or the uterus and ovaries (in women).

What a full-body MRI is not

A full-body MRI is not a magic wand. It is a powerful screening tool, but it is not designed to see everything.

It is not a substitute for your GP or for specific diagnostic tests. For example, it is not the ideal tool for examining hollow organs like the stomach or bowel. It also cannot see inside your coronary arteries to measure plaque (which is why we offer a specific Heart CT scan for that purpose). We use the full-body MRI to find significant, silent problems that other check-ups might miss.

Why should you still pay for a full-body MRI?

Standard preventive screenings should be seen as the basis. However, for anyone who feels healthy but worries about what might be going on beneath the surface, the traditional approach has gaps. A full-body MRI is designed to complement and empower GPs in supporting your health, not replace their essential role, by providing a detailed, data-driven picture of your current health, giving them a bigger foundation to guide you on your health. 

When is a full-body MRI a good idea?

A preventive full-body MRI scan is for asymptomatic people who want clarity and control over their health baseline. At Ahead, we often see our members falling into a few groups:

• The "worried but well": They generally feel fine, but you are increasingly aware of their health. They may be anxious about hidden risks like cancer or aneurysms and want deep, comprehensive insights.

• The data-driven and curious: They are proactive and "longevity-curious." They want to establish a precise medical baseline, move beyond wearable data, and get actionable insights to optimise their future health.

• Those with a family history: They have a family history of certain cancers or conditions. They want to gain clarity beyond a standard check-up.

Do you need symptoms for a full-body MRI?

No. In fact, the entire purpose of a preventive scan is to look for disease before symptoms start.

This is a key difference. If you have acute, specific symptoms (like sudden, severe pain), you should see your GP for a diagnostic scan, which is a referral-based MRI focused on one specific area.

An Ahead Health preventive scan is for asymptomatic individuals who want a clear picture of their underlying risk to catch problems early.

Your check-up at Ahead Health

At Ahead Health, the MRI scan is not an isolated event. It is the central part of a single, efficient, and comprehensive health check-up. You get everything in one place, in one appointment. No fragmented referrals, no waiting weeks for different tests.

How long does a full-body MRI take?

The full-body MRI scan itself typically takes between 30 and 45 minutes. You will be lying comfortably, and you are shown a video. Our entire check-up, including the advanced blood tests and other scans, is designed for maximum efficiency.

It's a scan, plus advanced blood diagnostics

The MRI provides the anatomical data. This is the "hardware" of your body. Our advanced blood panel provides the functional data. This is the "software".

Our Ahead Advanced and Ahead Pro check-ups, for example, combine the full-body MRI with our extensive blood test that analyses over 80 biomarkers. This gives us a more complete picture by measuring your heart and metabolism, liver, kidneys, thyroid, and pancreas function, inflammation and immune activity, iron and oxygen balance for energy, plus essential vitamins and minerals.

Your results, explained by Swiss doctors

One of our core principles when writing health reports and action plans is clarity. We strive to give you actionable health insights, written in a calm, clinical, precise, plain language, You will not be handed a confusing disc of images or a lab report full of numbers.

Our team uses AI-assisted analysis to screen your results, which are then validated by board-certified Swiss physicians. You receive a clear, understandable report in plain language. If you book an MRI scan, you can, if you wish, have a one-on-one tele-consultation with a senior physician. They will walk you through the findings, answer all your questions, and explain to you the recommendations from your action.

What does a full-body check-up cost?

The cost of a preventive check-up depends on your location, and whether it is included as part of a wider preventive health check-up. You need to refer to your own insurance company to check if it is covered in your plan. However, in most cases it is primarily self-pay.

At Ahead Health, we are fully transparent about our pricing. The cost depends on the depth of screening you choose.

• Ahead Core (CHF 1’990): This is our foundational check-up, and includes the full-body MRI, the option to add previous blood results, a detailed health report and tailored action plan, and an optional physician consultation.

• Ahead Advanced (CHF 2’490): This includes everything in Core, plus imaging longevity biomarkers, a gender-specific screening (prostate or ovaries), and an advanced blood panel with over 50 biomarkers.

• Ahead Pro (CHF 3’549): This is our most comprehensive package for a complete data-driven baseline. It includes everything in Advanced, plus a hip & knee scan, a detailed brain analysis, and even more blood panels, looking closer at hormones and vitamins.

Regardless of which MRI package you choose, you can always add a specialised scan, such as a heart CT calcium score, a DEXA scan, or a Mamma MRI, for more focused risk analysis if medically indicated.

Why this matters

An investment in a preventive check-up is an investment in clarity. It provides a comprehensive, actionable baseline of your health today. It empowers you to stop worrying about the "what ifs" and start making informed decisions for your future.