You completed your Whole Body Scan and opened your report. While much of the language may be familiar to you, some of the medical terminology may be hard to interpret. That’s because MRI reports are written primarily for clinicians and radiologists and are meant to be reviewed with a healthcare professional who can help to break them down into layman’s terms. But even then, some terms may be more difficult for you to wrap your head around or may sound alarming without context.
MRI reports contain standardized medical terminology that is meant to help radiologists communicate findings consistently across the board. Understanding some of these common terms can help you have more informed conversations with your healthcare provider. Here is a look at some of the terminology that may appear in your report and what they mean.
Related: This is why everyone is getting a whole body MRI
1. ONCO-RADS
ONCO-RADS, which stands for Oncologically Relevant Findings Reporting and Data System, is a standardized scoring system used by radiologists to communicate how concerning an imaging finding appears for cancer. It was designed to improve consistency in MRI reporting and serves as a tool to help radiologists communicate the level of concern associated with a finding and guide recommendations for follow-up when appropriate.
ONCO-RADs uses a five-category malignancy likelihood scale:
- ONCO-RADS 1: Normal
- ONCO-RADS 2: Highly likely to be benign
- ONCO-RADS 3: Probably benign, usually requires short-term follow-up or additional imaging.
- ONCO-RADS 4: The finding is concerning for cancer and typically requires additional evaluation.
- ONCO-RADS 5: The finding is highly concerning for cancer and requires prompt medical evaluation.
It’s important to note that an ONCO-RADS score is not a diagnosis. Instead, it’s looked at as a risk communication tool that helps healthcare providers interpret imaging findings in the context of a patient's overall health. Even a higher ONCO-RADS category does not necessarily mean you have cancer. It indicates how concerning a finding appears on MRI and helps guide recommendations for additional evaluation.
2. CSD (Clinically Significant Diagnosis)
This is a Prenuvo-developed reporting framework used to classify whole body MRI findings based on their level of clinical concern. It uses a five-point scale that helps radiologists differentiate between findings that are unlikely to require additional evaluation and those that may warrant follow-up or more immediate medical attention.
The CSD categories include:
- CSD 1: No concerning findings: The finding is not clinically significant. It represents normal anatomy or a common normal variation. No additional evaluation or follow-up is needed.
- CSD 2: Likely not concerning: The finding is unlikely to be clinically significant and is documented for completeness. No additional evaluation or follow-up is typically needed.
- CSD 3: Low concern: The finding is likely low risk but may have clinical significance depending on your medical history or risk factors. Your healthcare clinician should review it to determine whether any additional evaluation or non-urgent follow-up is needed.
- CSD 4: Concerning: The finding is likely to warrant additional medical evaluation. Prompt medical evaluation and testing are recommended.
- CSD 5: Highly concerning: The finding is highly likely to be clinically significant and may represent a serious medical condition. Urgent medical evaluation is recommended.
A CSD rating is not a diagnosis. It helps communicate how concerning a finding may be and whether it should simply be documented, monitored over time, or evaluated further.
3. Assessed
If a part of the body is marked as “assessed” in your MRI report but has no findings listed beneath it, this means the area was reviewed and there were no findings to report. It does not mean that the area was skipped or that the scan was incomplete.
MRI reports generally call attention to findings that are relevant to document, monitor, or evaluate further. When an assessed area has no associated findings, it means the radiologist did not identify anything in that area that warranted inclusion in the report, within the scope of the scan.
Related: What can a whole body MRI actually detect?
4. Informational finding
Informational findings on a whole body MRI are often documented because they provide useful information about your health, even if they don't require treatment or additional testing. These can include normal anatomical variations, age-related changes, or other findings that are not considered clinically significant. Examples may include having dense breast tissue, a healed C-section scar, or other characteristics that are worth documenting but are not considered clinically significant on their own.
Most informational findings don't require any further action and provide valuable clinical context by helping to establish a baseline for future imaging.
5. Benign
On a whole body MRI, a benign finding is one that is likely not cancerous. Many benign findings are common, cause no symptoms, and are unlikely to have important health consequences. While many benign findings require no additional evaluation or treatment, some may warrant further testing to confirm that they are benign, periodic monitoring to document stability, or treatment if they cause symptoms or affect normal function.
Identifying benign findings on a Whole Body Scan can help provide valuable information about your health and establish a baseline for future comparison. Your healthcare provider can help determine whether a benign finding requires no further action, periodic follow-up, or additional evaluation based on its appearance, location, and your medical history.
6. Follow-up recommended
Seeing the words "follow-up recommended" on an MRI report can make some people feel anxious. But this phrasing doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong. In many cases, it's simply a precautionary recommendation to gather more information. This can help a doctor to clarify a finding or determine whether any additional evaluation is needed. It can also be used to confirm that a finding is stable over time.
A follow-up recommendation may involve repeating the scan at a later date or getting another evaluation through another imaging test, like an ultrasound or CT, to further evaluate a specific finding. The next step is typically to discuss the finding with your primary care physician, who can help determine whether additional testing, monitoring, or referral to a specialist is appropriate.
7. Monitoring / Surveillance
If you see the words monitoring or surveillance on your MRI report, this means a finding should be observed over time rather than treated immediately. In this instance, your healthcare provider will likely plan to keep an eye on a finding like a tumor, cyst, aneurysm, or post-surgical area by checking in again at a specific period.
During follow-up testing, your practitioner will be looking to see whether the finding stays the same, grows, shrinks, resolves, or changes in appearance. In many cases, no changes over time are a reassuring sign that means that no intervention is needed. Monitoring is a common medical strategy with the purpose of allowing healthcare providers to carefully track a finding and refrain from intervening with unnecessary procedures or treatments unless they become clinically appropriate.
8. Lesion
The word lesion can sound alarming, but the term in itself doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong. A lesion is a common neutral medical term that’s used to describe an area of tissue that looks different from the surrounding tissue on an imaging exam. The National Cancer Institute defines it as “an area of abnormal or damaged tissue caused by injury, infection, or disease.”
Since it’s merely a descriptive term, a finding described as a lesion does not provide any information about why the tissue is abnormal or whether the condition is serious. A lesion can occur anywhere within the body, including the skin, brain, blood vessels, and other organs. The term can refer to many different types of findings, including a wound, abscess, ulcer, cyst, or tumor. It may be benign or malignant (cancerous).
It’s also important to note that by itself, the word lesion is not a diagnosis. Additional details, such as the lesion's size, appearance, and location, can help healthcare providers determine what it is and whether any follow-up is needed.
9. Cyst
A cyst is another word that may come across as nerve-racking at first glance. But a cyst is a closed sac of tissue that is filled with fluids or other materials. Cysts can appear almost anywhere in the body, including the ovaries, kidneys, skin, and breasts. Most cysts are benign, meaning they are noncancerous. Cysts are also extremely common, making them a more frequent finding on a Whole Body Scan, particularly because the scan can help detect some findings that aren't causing symptoms.
Many cysts remain the same size or even go away on their own. Others may require periodic monitoring to make sure they remain stable in size. If they become large or inflamed, some may need to be surgically removed or drained. On rare occasions they can be precancerous or malignant. Simple cysts are among the most common incidental findings found on whole body imaging and, in most cases, don't require treatment.
10. Nodule
A nodule is a small mass or growth that can develop in an organ or tissue, such as the thyroid, lungs, liver, skin, or breasts. While the word can sound alarming, the majority of nodules are benign, meaning they are noncancerous. Thyroid nodules, for instance, are particularly common with age, with half of adults over 50 potentially having one, and the vast majority being benign.
A healthcare provider will assess a nodule's size, shape, location, and appearance on imaging to determine whether additional evaluation is needed. They may recommend monitoring the nodule over time, additional imaging to better characterize it, or in some cases, a biopsy to help determine exactly what it is. The word "nodule" itself doesn't indicate whether a finding is cancerous. It’s a general descriptive term that the medical industry uses to describe the size and appearance of a finding.
11. Degenerative changes
Degenerative changes is a broad term used to describe the general wear and tear that occurs in the body over time. This can include changes in the joints, discs, and bones that occur with age. These changes are especially common in the spine, as spinal discs lose their water content over time, causing them to dry out, shrink, and become flatter and less cushion-like. In fact, by age 50, for instance, around 80% of people find some degree of disc degeneration on imaging. In many cases, if it's not causing symptoms, it doesn't require treatment.
While this may sometimes cause pain, in many cases people have some degree of degeneration without even knowing it. As a whole body MRI checks many areas of the body, it can help identify normal age-related changes that don’t require treatment. Thus, findings of degenerative changes don’t necessarily mean you have a disease or that you'll experience pain.
Related: Do you sit most of your day? You probably have spinal degeneration.
Understanding your findings with Prenuvo Results Review
Receiving test results can be overwhelming, especially when they contain terminology that you are unfamiliar with. Prenuvo works to make it easier to understand your results by incorporating a Results Review with a member of Prenuvo Medical Group* as part of your Whole Body Scan. During this consultation, a healthcare professional will review your findings, answer questions, and advise on any recommended follow-up or next steps per the report guidelines. The goal is not only to help identify findings but to communicate them in a way that helps patients and providers understand what they mean.
Want to learn more about the benefits of whole body MRI, Prenuvo Memberships, and Prenuvo Results Review? Book a call with a member of the Patient Services Team.
*Our exclusively-affiliated group partners that are providing medical services to Prenuvo.
