4 Benefits of Wide Bore MRI Systems

Did you know that there are many dif­fer­ent types of mag­net­ic res­o­nance imag­ing (MRI) scan­ners? Just like any major house­hold appli­ance, MRI scan­ners are man­u­fac­tured by dif­fer­ent com­pa­nies and come with var­i­ous options and spec­i­fi­ca­tions. Many peo­ple don’t real­ize that depend­ing on the type of MRI scan­ner, specs and out­put may vary.

At DuPage Med­ical Group (DMG), wide bore MRI sys­tems are uti­lized to achieve the high­est qual­i­ty image while also keep­ing the patien­t’s expe­ri­ence in mind.

Below are 4 ben­e­fits to hav­ing your MRI per­formed on a wide bore MRI scanner.

1. More Room and/​or Comfort
   • DMG’s wide bore MRI sys­tems fea­ture a high field 70cm entry point. This addi­tion­al space pro­vides more room and com­fort for patients than a tra­di­tion­al ​“closed bore” scanner.
   • Once a patient is on the scan­ner bed, this gen­er­al­ly leaves 15″-17″ from tip of the nose to the top of the scan­ner, com­pared to the ​“open” style mag­net which only offers about 8″- 10″.
2. Supe­ri­or Image Qual­i­ty Com­pared to an Open MRI
   • Sim­i­lar to your pho­to­graph­ic cam­eras, MRI equip­ment comes in vary­ing strengths and power.
   • While ​“open” sys­tems have become more preva­lent in recent years, DMG does not offer ​“open” MRI due to low­er image qual­i­ty pro­duced. Most ​“open MRI” sys­tems on the mar­ket are 0.3 Tes­la to 0.7 Tes­la (Tes­la = unit used to mea­sure strength of MRI mag­net). Tes­la strength impacts res­o­lu­tion and clar­i­ty of the MRI images.
   • Wide bore scan­ners pro­duce excep­tion­al results, often supe­ri­or to con­ven­tion­al ​“closed” MRI sys­tems. DMG uti­lizes state-of-the-art, 3T wide bore sys­tems which fea­ture the largest scan­ner size avail­able with the high­est field strength possible.
3. No Longer Hav­ing To Choose Qual­i­ty vs. Comfort
   • One impor­tant advan­tage of wide bore MRI sys­tems is their abil­i­ty to com­bine patient com­fort with high-qual­i­ty imag­ing. In the past, physi­cians had to choose com­fort over qual­i­ty for their patients; how­ev­er, that is no longer the case.
4. Pro­vide Ser­vices to a Wider Demo­graph­ic of Patient
   • Wide bore MRI scan­ners are a high qual­i­ty option for patients who may not be com­fort­able in a con­ven­tion­al MRI scan­ner due to the small­er entry point. Patients with claus­tro­pho­bia who pre­vi­ous­ly would not con­sid­er hav­ing an MRI exam are now will­ing to sched­ule their exam with the added space.
   • DMG MRI sys­tems are able to accom­mo­date a 500+ lbs. weight lim­it, com­pared to con­ven­tion­al, closed bore sys­tems which accom­mo­date 400 lbs. or less.
   • Wide bore sys­tems result in short­er scan times com­pared to con­ven­tion­al MRI systems.

To ease any patient con­cerns, DMG offers the option to vis­it the radi­ol­o­gy depart­ment and view the MRI room and scan­ner pri­or to sched­ul­ing an appoint­ment. Gen­er­al­ly this eas­es any anx­i­ety and helps patients feel com­fort­able to sched­ule and suc­cess­ful­ly com­plete their exam.