Virtual Physical

(WUSA) -- Today you can go online and take a virtual tour of a house. Even the latest exhibit at a museum.

When Mike Azzarello turned 42, he decided to take a virtual tour of his body.

Both of Azzarello's parents died from cancer when they were young. Azzarello didn't want to take any chances. That virtual tour, says Azzarello, was a life saver. The machine he used for the "tour" detected something suspicious on his kidney. It turned out to be a malignant 7-pound tumor.

"I was scared," says Azzarello as he remembers getting the final diagnosis while at a business conference on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

The machine that detected something was wrong with Azzarello is a CT Scanner.

Azzarello decided to go to a place called Virtual Physical in Maryland to have a full body scan done as preventative medicine.

With his clothes on, Azzarello was put on a table as a donut looking device went up and down his body.

About an hour later he was meeting with a radiologist to go over the results.

It was in this consultation, that the radiologist told Azzarello about the suspicious growth on his kidney.

"I made a list of things I'd like to see accomplished in my life. Walking my daughter down the isle. Seeing my oldest boy accomplish his dreams and wishes. Seeing my youngest boy change the world," reflects a grateful Azzarello.

"A lot of people come here just for peace of mind," says Denise Gscheidle of Virtual Physical in Rockville.

People wondering if they could have cancer, heart disease, even kidney stones.

However, not everyone in the medical community is a fan of these virtual physicals. Some say these devices are for hypochondriacs. Others say the machines lead to too many false positives and needless follow-up tests.

"There's a saying in baseball," says Azzarello, a little league baseball coach. "You're your own best coach ... So if there are tools out there that you can use to help yourself, then you should use them. This is one of the tools that I used ... It's preventative. Preventative maintenance. After the fact is usually a little too late."

Just last month, The New England Journal of Medicine, came out saying virtual colonoscopies are just as effective in screening healthy adults for colon cancer, as a conventional colonoscopy.

Those in the "virtual world" say a virtual colonoscopy is less invasive. However, it should be noted, you still have to do the liquid prep before a virtual colonoscopy. This is often the part, patients hate the most.

Azzarello's body scan cost him $1,200. None of it was covered by insurance. Most insurance companies don't cover preventative virtual tours.