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WHOLE BODY SCAN

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A new test is available without a doctor's order that gives you immediate results of your health. It's called whole body scanning. And it can detect abnormalities throughout your body, even cancers.

“I’m gonna have you lift your legs straight up in the air, for comfort more than anything else. So slide your back down in there.” Fifty-one-year-old Terry Mabbitt is undergoing a new test to find abnormalities inside his body. He's concerned because a test involving similar technology found heart disease last year.

“They saved my life. Because the cardiologist told me the condition I was in I would have made it maybe one more year.”

“There’s gonna be a laser that's gonna come on in just a moment. So I want you to close your eyes right now for just a minute so that doesn't get in your eyes.”

Dr. Michael Flood says the whole body scan is about a five minute high-speed CT scan of the body from the head to the pelvis. “A big application is in finding lung nodules, which may be benign granulomas, or maybe very early lung cancers we can detect early. Excellent for finding pathology involving the liver, spleen, the kidneys.”

Using low doses of radiation, the CT scan takes X-rays of the body from many different angles.

It can also help doctors detect brain cancer, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, sinusitis, gallstones and other conditions.

Dr. Flood explains that “If we find an abnormality, you would then see your doctor and you'd get additional testing. Diagnostic testing, which may involve a CAT scan, an MRI, an ultrasound or other imaging procedures.”

The whole body scan is for anyone concerned about their long-term health, especially those with a family history of certain diseases and cancers.

It's peace of mind for Mabbitt. “If we can find it early, possibly something can be done.”

Mediscan USA at 91st and Meridian Streets in Indianapolis is the only facility in the Midwest that performs whole body scanning. It's also the same company as Heart Score.

Other facilities offer this technology, but only for scans on parts of the body.

Most insurance companies do not cover this procedure right now and the test is expensive, about $1,000.

People under age 30 and pregnant women should not have this test due to radiation.

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