kim kardashian , miranda kerr and paris hilton are among the a-list celebrities who have shared selfies with magnetic resonance imaging (mri) screening machines in recent months.
the high-profile sharing, along with a post-pandemic increased awareness in personal health and backlogs in canadian health care raising alarms about access to care, has boosted the discussion about private screening options online and off.
“coming out of covid, we’re all a little less fit and we’ve missed health screenings. rightly or wrongly, we have a lower trust in our healthcare institutions. so i think people are now focusing much more intently on taking control and, importantly, getting ahead of health problems,” andrew lacy, founder and ceo of prenuvo , says. “there’s a real structural change that’s happening.”
getting ahead of health problems is key. a study shared by statistics canada in january 2023 found that the survival rate for the five most commonly diagnosed forms of cancer — breast, lung, colon, prostate and rectal — can exceed 90 per cent when detected early.
cancer, along with heart disease , are the leading causes of death in canada. in 2023, it was projected that 239,100 new cancer cases would be diagnosed, with 86,700 cancer-related deaths, according to the canadian cancer society.
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in april, the american college of radiology (acr) released a statement that it “does not believe there is sufficient evidence to justify recommending total body screening for patients with no clinical symptoms, risk factors or a family history suggesting underlying disease or serious injury.”
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“a s a scientific person, i understand when someone says there is no evidence, that simply means there is more population evidence that needs to be collected to help us understand how these tests perform at a population level,” lacy explains. “ unfortunately, when consumers read those words, it sounds like there is evidence of a lack of effectiveness. and that’s absolutely incorrect.”
b.c. cancer recommends women over the age of 40 have a mammogram, the use of a low-energy x-ray to examine breast tissue, yearly. the health care agency also recommends a colonoscopy, an interior examination of the large intestine and rectum , every three to five years for “average-risk individuals” age 50-74.
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dr. shehla ebrahim, a family physician with a special interest in dermatology who runs dermapure westview in north vancouver, is at the forefront of the examination of the skin for suspicious lesions using a dermatoscope, and mole mapping, the process of mapping the skin’s moles using high-definition cameras.
the canadian cancer society estimates that in 2023, 9,700 canadians will have been diagnosed with melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer. and 1,250 people would die from it.
a survey by the global coalition for melanoma patient advocacy of 700 dermatologists from 36 countries found that an estimated one-fifth of melanoma cases were undiagnosed in 2020 amid the pandemic, resulting in approximately 60,000 melanomas worldwide.
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using an iphone with a special lens attachment called the molescope pro from the vancouver-based company metaoptima technology inc. and the dermengine app, ebrahim takes detailed photos. the app offers advanced imaging and analytic tools that allow the practitioner to examine, catalogue and monitor mole evolution.
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“it’s time consuming. you have to spend a lot of time not just mapping and checking moles, but educating. you have to talk about prevention, skin care, reduction of exposure to sun. and a lot of times physicians just don’t have time,” she said. “they don’t have half an hour to talk to their patients about mole mapping. ”
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