United States President, Donald Trump, has been given a clean bill of health following what the White House describes as a “comprehensive executive physical”.
His physician, Captain Sean Barbabella, said in a memo released on Monday that advanced scans of the 79-year-old leader’s heart and abdomen were “perfectly normal”.
Barbabella explained that the MRI was conducted during Trump’s October physical “because men of his age group benefit from thorough evaluation of cardiovascular and abdominal health”.
The memo’s publication follows mounting pressure from Democrats,among them Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who have been seeking clarity on the scan amid renewed scrutiny of Trump’s fitness for a second term.
According to Barbabella, imaging revealed no arterial obstruction or problems affecting blood flow, nor any abnormalities in the president’s heart or major vessels.
He added that Trump’s cardiovascular system “shows excellent health”.
The abdominal scan also yielded no cause for concern, with Barbabella noting that “everything evaluated is functioning within normal limits with no acute or chronic concerns”.
He described the MRI as a routine component of an “executive physical” for someone of Trump’s age.
For weeks, the White House had left unanswered why Trump underwent an MRI during the October exam or which part of his body was scanned.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump signaled he was comfortable with the results being made public.
Asked directly what region the MRI focused on, he replied: “I have no idea. It was just an MRI, what part of the body? It wasn’t the brain, because I took a cognitive test and I aced it.”
Trump had already completed his annual physical in April, but said in October that the additional MRI at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was simply part of his “routine yearly checkup”. At the time, he described the results as “perfect”.
Barbabella reiterated in his memo that the scan was preventative in nature, designed “to identify issues early, confirm overall health, and ensure he maintains long-term vitality and function”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt publicly read the memo at Monday’s briefing, saying, “I think that’s quite a bit of detail in the effort of transparency. The president promised it last night and we have it delivered today.”
However, two independent physicians who reviewed the memo told the BBC that such imaging is “not typically standard” in preventive medicine.
Dr Carla Perissinotto, a geriatrics specialist at the University of California San Francisco, noted that some individuals choose screenings that go beyond standard age-based protocols.
Dr Jeffrey A. Linder, chief of general internal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, also pointed out that the memo does not clarify whether the test was an MRI or a CT scan, an omission that makes interpreting the procedure difficult. He said routine imaging for patients without symptoms is generally discouraged due to the balance of risk and benefit, and added that even in high-end executive physicals, it is rare for cardiovascular imaging to return “perfectly normal” results without any coronary calcification.
Trump has recently been observed with swollen ankles, bruising on his right hand, and occasionally dozing during meetings.
In July, the White House disclosed that he had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition affecting the veins and known to cause leg swelling.
