Weight loss surgeries on the rise among kids and teens, study finds: ‘Altering the anatomy’

A growing number of kids and teens are turning to weight loss surgery amid rising rates of pediatric obesity, according to a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Between 2020 and 2021, there was a nearly 19% increase in weight loss surgeries among U.S. youths aged 10 to 19 years, as discovered by researchers from the University of Texas, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The researchers were particularly interested in looking at these trends after the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a statement in late 2019 endorsing increased access to bariatric surgery for teens, said lead study author Sarah Messiah, PhD, professor and pediatric obesity researcher at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.

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The study drew on data from across six years from the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program, which accredits bariatric surgery centers in the U.S. and Canada.

"Historically, research shows pediatricians have been hesitant to refer their patients with severe obesity to bariatric surgery," Messiah told Fox News Digital in an email. 

"Our findings show a steady increase in usage in the two years after the release of this AAP statement."

The increase was particularly high for racial and ethnic minority groups. That includes Hispanic/Latino, non-Hispanic Black/African American and others, possibly because they are "disproportionately impacted by cardiometabolic disease risk factors versus non-Hispanic Whites," Messiah said.

These risk factors include elevated blood pressure, lipids, insulin, glucose and waist circumference — all of which are risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease as well as some types of cancer, she added.

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The new study did have some limitations, Messiah said.

"We are always limited to the data we are analyzing in that it does not include the entire universe of all adolescents who have ever completed bariatric surgery in the U.S. during the analytical time period," she said. 

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"However, this dataset does include all adolescent patients who completed their surgery at a U.S. accredited center, which is the gold standard," the doctor also said.

In January 2023, the AAP released its new pediatric obesity treatment guidelines, officially endorsing bariatric surgery and weight loss prescriptions for the first time.

"Teens age 13 and older with severe obesity (BMI ≥120% of the 95th percentile for age and sex) should be evaluated for metabolic and bariatric surgery," the guidelines stated.

There are four main types of bariatric surgery, according to the Cleveland Clinic: gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, gastric band and duodenal switch.

There was a lot of resistance to the AAP’s recommendation, Messiah pointed out.

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"However, our analysis would suggest that families are following their own path in terms of deciding to move forward with surgery for their adolescent," she said. 

"It will be important that we support these families moving forward to ensure the best health outcomes for their adolescents as they age into adulthood."

Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, offers a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. 

Billed as a minimally invasive procedure, it involves removing a large portion of the stomach to suppress hunger, according to its website.

The hospital recommends exploring weight loss surgery for children who are at least 5 years old, have a BMI of at least 40 (or above 35 with other medical conditions) and have had at least six months of "supervised medical weight loss therapy."

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Ohio also has a bariatric surgery program, but its website states that it’s for "severely obese adolescents who haven’t had success with behavioral and nutritional approaches to weight loss."

Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, offers two types of bariatric surgery: gastric bypass and gastric sleeve. 

The website doesn’t specify a minimum age requirement, but patients must be at least 100 pounds over their "ideal body weight."

Patients and physicians have gone online to share experiences and opinions on pediatric weight loss surgery. 

These run the gamut from success stories to cautionary tales.

One bariatric surgeon on Reddit voiced concern about misconceptions of the procedure.

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"People see it as ‘the easy way out,’ but it's honestly the only way out for 95% of people who are morbidly obese," the doctor wrote. 

"Your metabolic rate will slow down significantly if you try to diet and lose weight, and your progress will slow down — and weight regain is almost inevitable. Bariatric surgery doesn't do that, and something like the gastric bypass hardwires in a malabsorptive component that can't be overridden."

"Do I think we should do bariatric surgery in teenagers? I won't be doing it any time soon, but I think that in a controlled setting with IRB approval, it is appropriate," the surgeon continued, referring to Institutional Review Boards. 

"We have an entire demographic of teenagers with type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea and serious joint pains because of their weight," the surgeon also wrote. "It would be ignorant to overlook an obvious treatment for those conditions."

Another poster, however, shared that her friend opted for the bypass procedure at 16 years old and did not have a good experience.

"She’s now 26 and has gained all the weight back and more," she wrote. 

"Her brain wasn’t done developing and she wasn’t mature enough to understand the consequences of such major surgery and to stick to the guidelines and deal with her disordered eating."

Meanwhile, a surgery intern in a private hospital posted that the facility had performed an "astonishingly high number of bariatric cases" and recalled seeing many complications — even when very skilled surgeons did the procedures.

Dr. Sue Decotiis, a triple board-certified weight loss physician in New York City, warned of the potential dangers of these surgeries in children and teens, given their "irreversible nature."

She told Fox News Digital, "With bariatric surgery, you're altering the anatomy of the GI tract, and that anatomy — if it's a bypass — can never be returned [to its original state]."

She added, "That means the individual is never going to be able to eat regular meals because the anatomy of the stomach has changed."

Another potential problem is that after the anatomy of the stomach is altered, Decotiis said, the person won’t be able to eat as much high-nutrition and high-fiber food because they will feel full immediately.

"This can make them gravitate toward processed foods because those are a lot easier to get down," she said. 

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Before going the surgery route for a child or teen, Decotiis recommends first making dietary changes, such as cutting out sodas and sugary foods and slowly introducing more nutritious fare.

And in the case of teens with severe obesity, the doctor pointed out that if they start with some of the newer weight loss medications that are available, surgery might not be necessary.

"All the medical options need to be exhausted before they consider surgery, because surgery is irreversible," Decotiis said.

The only exception, she said, is if the child or teen is "morbidly obese" (now known as Class III obesity, which is when a person has a BMI of 40 or higher, or 35 or higher along with obesity-related health conditions, per the Cleveland Clinic). 

"Otherwise, it's not worth it because they will likely gain the weight back — and since their anatomy has been disturbed, getting proper nutrients will be difficult in the future."

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Rosalynn Carter diagnosed with dementia at 95: What to know about the condition in the ‘oldest old’

Rosalynn Carter, the wife of former President Jimmy Carter, has been diagnosed with dementia, the family announced this week.

At 95 years old, Carter is part of a cohort known as the "oldest old" — one in which rates of dementia are starkly higher than other age groups.

Among adults age 65 and older, 10% of them have dementia and 22% have mild cognitive impairment, found a 2022 Columbia University study published in the journal JAMA Neurology.

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Among people between 65 and 69, 3% are diagnosed with the condition. Dementia rates spike to 35% for people age 90 and older, per the study’s findings.

Looking at the population of elderly people, some studies have broken it down into three groups: the "youngest old" between the ages of 65 and 74 years of age, the "middle old" between 75 and 84, and the "oldest old," who are 85 and over.

The U.S. Census Bureau, however, has claimed that the "oldest old" should include people who are 90 or older, as they represent the quickest-growing part of the U.S. population and are expanding faster than the 85- to 89-year-old segment, according to a 2013 study published in the journal Continuum.

It can be challenging to diagnose dementia in advanced ages, as the symptoms can in many ways overlap with normal changes that occur as someone ages, noted Dr. James Pratty, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California Riverside School of Medicine.

"It’s also further made difficult because some of the symptoms of dementia, including memory loss, can be caused by medical and psychiatric conditions that may cause confusion, which can mimic dementia," he explained to Fox News Digital. 

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These conditions can include depression, dehydration, electrolyte abnormalities and urinary tract infections, Pratty added.

The progression of dementia decline, or the rate at which it occurs, becomes much more rapid in individuals over age 65 versus those who are younger, Pratty explained.

"The progression of the disease also very much depends upon the type of dementia," he went on. "Vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer’s disease each can progress at a different rate — and all of them will decline more rapidly when the onset is significantly late in life."

Another risk factor for those facing dementia in their 90s is that the typical medical interventions don’t prove to be as effective in this population, Pratty noted. 

Individuals age 90 or older are also at a greater risk of developing problems with balance, coordination, vision and hearing, he added. 

"This powerful combination increases the risk of falls," he said. 

Some of the more common risk factors of dementia also come into play for the "oldest old," Pratty said.

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These include social determinants of health, which are the conditions in the environment that affect a wide range of medical conditions, functional abilities and quality-of-life outcomes, he explained.

"Social isolation and poor diet, along with a lack of regular exercise, can also increase one’s risk of developing dementia as they age," Pratty said. 

In addition, a number of chronic health issues — such as diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and depression — can increase dementia risk.

People 85 and older are also more susceptible to dementia if they use certain substances, the doctor noted.

"The two most common substances that can cause damage to blood vessels in the aging brain or cause direct damage to the brain cells include alcohol and smoking cigarettes," Pratty said. 

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For those who have a family history of dementia, the risk also increases as they grow older.

"In addition, patients who have experienced head injury or had a stroke have an increased risk of developing dementia," Pratty added.

Rosalynn Carter "continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains (Georgia) and visits with loved ones," according to a family statement published on The Carter Center website.

Carter has long served as an advocate for mental health, working to improve access to care and to reduce the stigma surrounding it.

"We recognize, as she did more than half a century ago, that stigma is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support," the statement continued. 

"We hope sharing our family's news will increase important conversations at kitchen tables and in doctor’s offices around the country."

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In February, actor Bruce Willis, 67, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain and can affect behavior, personality, language and movement.

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AI identified these 5 types of heart failure in new study: 'Interesting to differentiate'

"Heart failure" is a catch-all term used to describe any condition in which the organ doesn’t work as it’s supposed to — but one person’s experience with the disease can be very different from someone else’s.

Researchers from the University College London (UCL) recently used machine learning — a type of artificial intelligence — to pinpoint five distinct types of heart failure, with the goal of predicting the prognosis for the different kinds.

"We sought to improve how we classify heart failure, with the aim of better understanding the likely course of disease and communicating this to patients," said lead author Professor Amitava Banerjee from UCL in a press release announcing the study.

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"Currently, how the disease progresses is hard to predict for individual patients," he also said. "Some people will be stable for many years, while others get worse quickly."

The five types of heart failure identified were early onset, late onset, atrial fibrillation (which causes an irregular heart rhythm), metabolic (linked to obesity but with a low rate of cardiovascular disease) and cardiometabolic (linked to obesity and cardiovascular disease), according to a press release on UCL’s website.

"The five types of heart failure were on the basis of common risk factors, such as age at onset of heart failure, history of cardiac disease, history of cardiac risk factors such as diabetes and obesity, or atrial fibrillation (the commonest heart rhythm problem)," explained Banerjee in a statement to Fox News Digital.

For the study, published in the journal Lancet Digital Health, the researchers analyzed data from more than 300,000 U.K. adults aged 30 and older who had experienced heart failure over a 20-year period.

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"Four methods of machine learning were used to cluster individuals with heart failure in electronic health data by their baseline characteristics," said Banerjee. "The method and the number of clusters that 'fit' best to the data were selected."

For each type of heart failure, the researchers determined the likelihood of the person dying within a year of diagnosis. The prognosis varied widely for the five subtypes, they found.

The five-year mortality risk was 20% for early onset, 46% for late onset, 61% for atrial fibrillation-related, 11% for metabolic and 37% for cardiometabolic, according to the press release.

For health professionals, Banerjee recommends that they ask their heart failure patients about common risk factors to help them understand the subtype they have. 

"Researchers also need to test how usable, generalizable and acceptable these subtypes defined in our study are in clinical practice," he added. 

"They should also consider whether studies such as ours, which use AI, can help inform a better understanding of disease processes and drug discovery." 

The research team also developed an app for physicians that would enable them to determine which subtype of heart failure a patient has — with the goal of better predicting risk and keeping patients informed.

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Dr. Ernst von Schwarz, a triple board-certified clinical and academic cardiologist at UCLA in California, reviewed the results of UCL's study.

"For clinicians, it is interesting to differentiate heart failure according to prognosis, which usually is not done in the clinical setting," he told Fox News Digital. "Heart failure is generally seen as an incurable, chronic, progressive disease with poor long-term outcomes." 

"Studies like this might help clinicians make a more appropriate risk assessment according to the etiology of heart failure," von Schwarz added. 

In particular, the very high mortality rate for atrial fibrillation-induced heart failure highlights the importance of aggressively managing this common arrhythmia, he said.

The mortality predictions for the five subtypes are "by far the most interesting part of this data," according to Dr. Matthew Goldstein, a physician at Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia, who also reviewed the study findings.

"This may help us guide who is at risk for dying suddenly, and thus, who needs protection with a defibrillator and who does not," he added.

While Goldstein recognizes that AI is becoming more common in general, he believes its application is medicine has shown "somewhat less success."

He told Fox News Digital, "It is, however, good at looking for patterns that are too complicated for the human mind to see."

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"Some of the more common utilizations are automatic readings of radiology studies to make sure that nothing is missed and emerging use in EKG interpretation to suggest underlying pathology," he added.

In terms of using AI to classify heart failure, Goldstein noted that this is only a retrospective study and will need to be proven for future cases in order to be truly useful. 

The main limitation of the new study was that the researchers didn’t have access to any imaging data, which is most commonly used to diagnose and predict risk in heart failure.

"However, imaging markers alone do not predict mortality and other outcomes," Banerjee said. 

"The fact that we were able to use routinely collected data without this imaging data to predict subtypes and outcomes relatively well suggests that the imaging biomarkers alone may not be the best way to characterize and study heart failure at population scale."

The next step, Banerjee said, is to determine whether classifying various heart failures can make a practical difference to patients — "whether it improves predictions of risk and the quality of information clinicians provide, and whether it changes patients’ treatment." 

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Cost-effectiveness is another consideration, he added.

The UCL research team previously used similar methods to identify subtypes in chronic kidney disease.

Looking ahead, Banerjee expects that machine learning will be used to analyze many types of routinely collected medical data and to identify subtypes of different diseases.

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Ozempic, Wegovy and pregnancy risk: What you need to know about the issue

Ozempic and Wegovy share the common side effects of nausea and appetite loss, but there is one lesser-known risk factor that isn’t mentioned nearly as often.

The two semaglutide-containing medications — Ozempic for type 2 diabetes control and Wegovy for weight loss — could also pose a serious risk to unborn babies.

Animal studies have shown that when pregnant rabbits, rats and monkeys were given semaglutide, they experienced higher rates of miscarriage, birth defects and small fetal size — information that’s included in the drug labels for both medications, which are made by Novo Nordisk in New Jersey.

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Ozempic is still wildly popular, with more than four million active prescriptions, per the manufacturer’s website. While it’s marketed as a diabetes-controlling medication, it’s also well-known for its frequent off-label use as a weight loss aid.

There has also been increasing demand for its weight loss counterpart, Wegovy — so much that Novo Nordisk announced earlier this month it will be limiting the availability of some starter doses.

Semaglutides are in a group of medications called ​​glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs). 

They work by imitating the behavior of the GLP-1 hormone, which is released in the gut after eating and triggers the body to produce insulin.

Dr. Rekha Kumar, chief medical officer at the medically supported weight care program Found and a practicing endocrinologist in New York City, advises her patients to stop taking semaglutide-containing medications in the months leading up to pregnancy.

"Given the fact that these medicines have not been studied in pregnancy, I would recommend stopping the long-acting ones like Ozempic and Wegovy two to three months before," she told Fox News Digital in an interview.

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Whenever she prescribes FDA-approved medicine for weight loss, Kumar said she always has a conversation with patients about whether they’re trying to get pregnant or if they’re on contraception.

"And if we're prescribing any medicine that could be contraindicated, we let them know," she said.

In cases where diabetes or weight management is critical to the health of patients, Kumar sometimes switches them to a shorter-acting daily medication, such as phentermine for weight loss or metformin for diabetes, which can be taken up until a month before pregnancy. 

There’s a marked difference between patients who are using Ozempic for diabetes versus those using Wegovy for weight loss, the doctor pointed out.

That’s because weight loss is not advised while someone is pregnant.

"If you look at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology’s weight gain guidelines, nobody is recommended to lose weight during pregnancy," Kumar told Fox News Digital. "The amount of weight you're recommended to gain is based on your pre-pregnancy BMI."

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Even for women who are overweight or have obesity, the most strict recommendation would be to not gain any weight, the doctor said.

It’s a different story for patients who have diabetes.

"The assumption is that they're on a medicine that's critical for managing a disease," Kumar explained. "In that case, I’ll switch them to insulin during pregnancy."

Dr. Sue Decotiis, a weight loss physician in New York City who specializes in Ozempic, Mounjaro and other weight loss medications, also said she recommends that her patients stop taking these drugs if they become pregnant.

"We really don't know what the risks are because they haven’t done any real studies, and I don't believe that we're going to see hideous long-term side effects — but then again, who wants to take the chance?" she said in a conversation with Fox News Digital.

In another twist, semaglutide medications can actually help women get to a point where they are able to conceive when they originally didn’t think they’d be able to, said Decotiis.

"We know that insulin resistance is a leading cause of infertility," she said.

"A lot of people have reported that they were insulin-resistant and overweight, and that their periods were very irregular."

"Thus, when we correct the insulin resistance with these medications, people start getting regular periods and start getting pregnant," she went on. "So that's one added benefit of the drug."

Many of Kumar’s patients have a long-term plan to take the medicine, lose a desired amount of weight and then try to get pregnant.

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If a woman on a semaglutide medication finds out she's pregnant, Kumar said she can stop taking it right away — but in a best-case scenario, she recommends tapering off.

"This would allow the woman to monitor the compensatory hunger that comes back after stopping and implement other interventions and lifestyle changes, such as increasing dietary protein," she said.

Based on reports from women who have experienced miscarriage or other pregnancy issues while taking these medications, the FDA is now requiring Novo Nordisk to conduct an investigation. 

The company will have to keep a registry of any reported issues after exposure during pregnancy, including "major and minor congenital malformations, spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, elective terminations, small for gestational age, preterm birth and any other adverse pregnancy outcomes," according to the FDA’s letter.

On Reddit, one user shared that about 10 months ago she became pregnant while on Ozempic.

"This was quite a shock to me because we tried for three years to conceive naturally and had to go the gauntlet of IVF to have a baby," she wrote. 

"I delivered my son last September, quit breastfeeding in December and started Ozempic, conceived on March 22 (without knowing) and miscarried on April 26. What a shock this was to my entire family."

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Five months ago, another user shared that she got pregnant while taking the medication. The baby stopped growing at 5 weeks — the woman miscarried at 8 weeks.

Not all experiences ended badly, however. 

Other women shared that they experienced healthy pregnancies even after being on a semaglutide medication before finding out they had conceived.

When conducting its trials of semaglutide medications, Novo Nordisk excluded women who were pregnant or intended to become pregnant, the company said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"There are therefore limited clinical trial data with semaglutide use in pregnant women," the statement continued. 

"However, information related to pregnancy appears in Section 8.1 and 8.3 of the prescribing information for both Ozempic and Wegovy."

That information includes the following warning: "Based on animal reproduction studies, there may be potential risks to the fetus from exposure to semaglutide during pregnancy, [Ozempic and Wegovy] should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus."

Said the company, "Pregnant women exposed to [Ozempic and Wegovy] and health care providers are encouraged to contact Novo Nordisk at 1-800-727-6500."

Novo Nordisk also pointed out that while Wegovy and Ozempic both contain semaglutide, they are different products with different indications, dosages, prescribing information, titration schedules and delivery devices. 

"The products are not interchangeable and should not be used outside of their approved indications," the statement said.

Ozempic is FDA-approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, to improve blood sugar, along with diet and exercise, and reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke or death in adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, according to the company.

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Wegovy is FDA-approved for chronic weight management in adults with obesity (BMI > 30) or overweight (BMI > 27) who also have weight-related medical problems, used with a reduced-calorie meal plan and increased physical activity, Novo Nordisk said.

While semaglutides carry potential risks during pregnancy, Kumar emphasized that when prescribed properly to a woman who is struggling with her metabolic health, these medications could help enable a healthier pregnancy. 

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"If somebody is using contraception and they're under the care of an OB-GYN and an endocrinologist and they’re at risk of gestational diabetes, taking this medicine for a period of time might actually allow them to get pregnant more easily and lower their risk of gestational diabetes," she explained. 

"So when used appropriately in women that desire fertility, there is an appropriate way to do it."

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Doctors under fire as patients' claims of 'medical gaslighting' go viral: Need to 'be our own advocates'

Patients who don’t feel heard by a health care professional are finding a voice on social media — with the hashtag #medicalgaslighting now garnering more than 226 million views on TikTok.

"Medical gaslighting" is a term used to describe the situation in which patients — often young individuals, women and minorities — feel their symptoms are inappropriately dismissed or labeled as psychological when they go to see a doctor.

The term "gaslighting" originates from a 1938 play about a diabolical husband who plots to drive his wife insane through treacherous mind games.

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In 1944, MGM released the psychological thriller "Gaslight," starring acclaimed actress Ingrid Bergman, who won an Oscar for her convincing portrayal of an abused wife.

She discovers that her husband was planning to institutionalize her so that he could collect on her inheritance by driving her insane — in part by dimming the gaslights in the home while tricking her to believe it was in her imagination.

"When it comes to our personal health, we should all feel confident and empowered to be our own advocates," Sylvia Kang, CEO and founder of health care company Mira in San Ramon, California, told Fox News Digital.

Mira helps women conceive with a home fertility tracker that provides personalized insights into menstrual cycles to maximize the chances of getting pregnant.

Approximately 65% of American women felt that their doctor "dismissed, ignored or minimized the severity of their medical concerns," according to a recent nationwide survey commissioned by Mira.

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The survey also found that female millennials felt especially impacted, with 72% feeling ignored or dismissed by doctors, per a press release on Mira's website. 

In 1977, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that reproductive-age women be excluded from early clinical drug trials. 

There was a concern that the studies could potentially harm the fetuses of pregnant women and that hormonal changes during pregnancy would complicate the study’s results, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

During this time, few females worked in medicine or research — and many women thought their needs were not a priority in scientific research, per the Office of Research on Women’s Health.

The policy also recommended excluding single women, those who used contraception and those whose husbands had a vasectomy, per the NIH.

"Medical gaslighting by health care providers can have a devastating impact on women," Shawana S. Moore, a board-certified women’s health nurse practitioner who specializes in women's health in Atlanta, Georgia, told Fox News Digital.

"These experiences can erode trust in medical professionals, create feelings of self-doubt and lead to delays in receiving proper care."

A 1993 law now mandates that medical research funded by the NIH include women and minorities — but 30 years later, research shows there’s still a gender gap in how providers are evaluating women compared to men.

A 2019 Danish study found that, with the exception of osteoporosis, women were on average diagnosed four years later for over 700 diseases.

"Experiencing medical gaslighting throughout my fertility journey was deeply disheartening, especially as a woman with hormonal imbalance and a higher BMI [body mass index] who sought to be well-informed and actively participate in my own care," Kristy Pinney, 33, a member of the Mira community who lives in Orlando, Florida, told Fox News Digital.

She said she felt "disregarded and frustrated" when her providers immediately pushed for invasive procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) — solely based on her weight — rather than considering alternative treatment options based on her individual circumstances.

One example of how some providers may not consider differences in symptoms between genders has to do with chest pain.

The classic symptoms of a heart attack are uncomfortable chest pain or chest pressure — sometimes described as a squeezing sensation that radiates to one or both arms — which lasts for more than a few minutes, according to the American Heart Association.

"But women may experience other symptoms that are typically less associated with heart attack, such as shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain," the association noted on its website.

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Some women who experience a heart attack may complain of pressure in the upper back that is described as a "squeezing" sensation or a feeling that a rope is being tied around them, the association added on its website.

Many people assume heart disease is only a men’s health issue, yet it’s actually the No. 1 killer of American women. 

However, only slightly more than half of women in the U.S. are aware of this, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

More women die from the condition compared to all types of cancer combined, per the American Heart Association.

Some experts suggest bringing a loved one along to an appointment to avoid feeling discounted by health professionals.

"Women have the power to speak up and challenge dismissive attitudes in health care to receive the care they deserve," Moore said. 

Doctors spend years in medical school in the U.S. to master why a patient is coming to see them — what medical professionals refer to as the "chief complaint."

By simply talking to and examining patients, doctors can make the proper diagnosis without performing any further testing in 80% of cases, according to multiple studies.

Many doctors work hard to follow this practice — but some patients feel a subset can do better.

"My story serves as a powerful reminder that weight should not be a barrier to compassionate and personalized care," Pinney said.

Kang of Mira in California is recommending that women become their own health advocates.

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"As women are diagnosed an average of four years later than men, there is no shame in asserting yourself by asking plenty of questions, expressing any concerns and seeking second opinions when your gut tells you something is off," she said.

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AI technology catches cancer before symptoms with Ezra, a full-body MRI scanner

Meet Ezra, the full-body cancer screener that just might save your life.

Combining MRI imaging technology with artificial intelligence, Ezra scans for possible cancer in the human body in up to 13 organs. It also monitors for hundreds of other conditions, such as brain aneurysms or fatty liver disease.

The New York-based company just received FDA clearance to implement another level of AI — called Ezra Flash — that will enhance the imaging results of the scans to enable faster, higher-quality results at a lower cost.

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"Our current 60-minute scan is $2,000, but with the new AI, the faster 30-minute scan will be $1,350," said Emi Gal, founder and CEO of Ezra, in an interview with Fox News Digital. 

"Ultimately, our goal is to create a $500 full-body MRI that anyone can afford," he also said.

The inspiration for Ezra came from Gal’s own personal motivation to help people find cancer early. He is at a high risk for developing melanoma — and his mother passed away from the disease.

"I strongly believe that the cure for cancer is early detection," Gal said. 

"The five-year survival rates are significantly higher for people who find cancer early."

While some cancers have very clear screening guidelines — mammograms for breast cancer and colonoscopies for colon cancer, for example — most types don't have screening procedures available, he explained.

That means for cancers of the pancreas, liver or brain, most people don’t get diagnosed until they have symptoms, said Gal. 

Ezra is now in use in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and Las Vegas. The company partners with existing ACR (American College of Radiology)-accredited facilities, where the scans are performed. 

"We've scanned just under 5,000 people and we've helped 13% of our members find possible cancer," Gal said. 

More and more physicians are referring their patients for Ezra scans, he noted.

"We now have about 200 physicians," he said. "These are mainly primary care physicians who send their patients to get scans proactively."

The main feedback they’ve received from members is that they love Ezra, but it's too expensive to do every year and needs to be more affordable.

"That's what we've been working on for the past year-and-a-half now, and that's what this new AI will enable," Gal said.

The current 60-minute version of Ezra uses two different types of artificial intelligence.

One of those automates some of the things radiologists do when reading a scan. 

"For example, when a radiologist looks at a prostate MRI, they need to measure the size of the prostate and the size of any lesions, and they need to draw a circle around the lesions for biopsy prep," Gal explained. 

"All of that is automated using AI, which makes radiologists faster and lowers our costs, which enables us to pass those savings on to consumers."

The other type of AI helps with the reporting side — it produces a radiology report and "translates" it into a clear, understandable format, Gal said.

"For example, if you have a 6-millimeter nodule in your thyroid, the AI explains what that means, what you should do about it and how to monitor and follow up," he said. "We don't just deliver a radiology report — we give you a kind of translation of what you should do about it."

The patient also has the option to do a video call with one of Ezra’s on-staff doctors to discuss the results.

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With the new Ezra Flash that has just been cleared by the FDA, the shorter 30-minute scan includes a third level of AI that enables radiologists to complete scans much faster. The AI then enhances the quality of the images so radiologists can more easily read them.

"The quality of an MRI is determined by the level of ‘noise,’" explained Gal. "And so in technical terms, our AI is able to remove the noise that results from a much faster scan."

The company's ultimate goal is for Ezra to offer a 15-minute, full-body MRI scan for $500; it aims to achieve this over the next two to three years.

"Ultimately, we think Ezra should be the end-to-end cancer screening platform," Gal said. "We want to make booking your screening as easy as booking an Uber."

"Our ability to scan more people in the future will come from seamless, easy, convenient access to any kind of screening."

One 36-year-old man, who asked that his name be withheld for privacy reasons, decided to schedule a preventative full-body cancer screening with Ezra last year.

Within the span of a year, two of his close friends, both in their early 30s, had been diagnosed with cancer — and both were told their tumors had likely been developing for over a decade.

"I was struck by the fact that despite all the advances of modern medicine, you still have no idea what is happening inside your body," he told Fox News Digital. "In a majority of cases, the onus is on the patient to realize something is wrong, at which point it is often too late for effective treatment."

After a short intake questionnaire, the patient was scheduled for an MRI at a nearby imaging center. The process took just over an hour.

"I had no reason for concern, it was just a screening — so I was very surprised to find that my scan turned up an alarmingly large brain tumor," he said.

Early detection of the brain tumor allowed for intervention before it had progressed to an advanced stage, which would have required more aggressive treatment, such as chemotherapy and radiation. 

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"According to my medical team, it would likely have been another five to 10 years before symptoms — most likely a seizure — would have indicated the presence of the tumor," he said. 

"Had that been the case, I would have undergone emergency surgery."

Instead, the patient had time to research top neurosurgery centers across the country and consult with multiple surgeons before scheduling his surgery. 

He was also able to enroll in a clinical trial for a medication that has since proven successful — something he might have missed out on if he’d gotten the diagnosis later.

"Everyone should have the right to know what is going on in their body," the patient said. "It would not be an exaggeration to say my scan saved my life."

Unlike X-rays that use ionizing radiation, Ezra’s MRI technology uses magnetic resonance, Gal explained.

"You can do a scan every day for the rest of your life and you'll be fine," he said.

The one potential concern, however, is the risk of incidental findings. 

If a scan picks up a red flag that is investigated and turns out to be nothing, it could result in an unnecessary biopsy.

"We’ve developed an entire framework to handle incidental findings," Gal said. "Part of why we use AI to generate these reports is so that we can clearly explain to people what every single finding means and what should be done about it."

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Ezra uses a scoring system that ranks every finding from 1 to 5, 1 being just informative and 5 being "emergent and urgent." 

Based on that rank, they determine whether someone should follow up on a finding.

Even for existing routine screenings, like mammograms, there is always the risk of false positives, Gal pointed out.

"From the data we have so far, we have a really, really low false positive rate — around 1%, which is probably even better than a mammogram or a lung scan," he said.

The patient who discovered his brain tumor through an Ezra scan also flagged incidental findings as the sole risk.

"Full-body scans inevitably produce incidental findings, which may lead to additional testing," he said. "These additional tests come with their own risks, stress and costs."

"As these screenings become more widespread and incidental findings more frequent, clinicians will need to become better at differentiating which findings require follow-up and which do not," he added. 

"The responsibility of the health care provider is to clarify and provide context for the information, explain their recommendations and then empower patients to make informed decisions about their own health."

Until now, medical imaging has been primarily used to diagnose diseases after symptoms have already emerged — but Ezra aims to detect cancer well before that point, said Dr. Sodickson, chief of innovation in radiology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who is also Ezra's advisor and chief scientist.

"Such a shift requires that MRI be made more accessible — first financially and then technologically," he said. "The FDA approval of Ezra Flash, which leverages AI to clear up rapid scans, is an important first step, since time is money in medical imaging."

Meanwhile, as Ezra completes more scans over time, the system will "learn" to detect subtle changes earlier, preventing the false positive results that can plague one-shot screening studies, the doctor noted. 

He added, "The goal is to initiate a virtuous cycle: Make imaging accessible in order to scan you more frequently, and scan more frequently in order to provide accurate monitoring of your health over time."

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