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But this is exactly what an “executive scan” is. I know several CEOs who get full body scans. Two of them caught early stage cancers and credit these scans with vastly improving their prognosis.

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A counterpoint to these stories of early diagnosis is that not all cancers are equal, and there are some cancers which may not ever have affected the patient had they not been treated (or detected). Examples include some prostate and breast cancers. Autopsy studies have shown occult prostate cancer in about half of men > 70 years old who were asymptomatic and died of other causes.

Of course it is often impossible to know which cancer will or won't kill you, but it should be recognized that there is a risk to scanning oneself without a proper indication, for example, getting a prostatectomy for indolent prostate cancer and risking impotence.

In Canada, these "executive scans" are a service sold by private clinics. As OP pointed out, they will often find things that are entirely benign. However, since in Canada you can't charge money privately for services that are covered under public insurance, guess who ends up paying for the bulk of the inevitable follow-up investigations coming out of these full-body scans that only the wealthy can afford.

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