English Abstract
Abstract:
Objectives: Claustrophobia is considered as a restrictor in MRI and can lead to increasing the scan time, degrading the image quality, and increasing the service running cost. The aim of this study is to test some psychotherapy measures as approaches in overcoming claustrophobia in closed MRI systems.
Methods: fourty-five subjects whom been identified as claustrophobic were divided into three equal groups and each group were instructed of one of three suggested psychotherapy measures. Each group (subject) has been observed before, during and after the scan.
The study has included a literature review of the previous similar studies consisted of two stages that included, the experiment stage and interviews with some MRI radiologists in the second stage.
Results: The study has achieved an overall reduction in the failed level to complete the scan, with a total of 5 (1.3%) of the 389 patients. Compared to 20 (5.8%) out of 344 patients underwent spine and brain MR scans in the control group. the study results were significant with a significance rate T=2.1.
Conclusions: psychotherapy treatment can help in reducing the failure rate due to claustrophobic concerns to a considerable rate which reduces the chance of the interference of general anesthesia, but on the other hand, the use of sedation is still playing a major role in overcoming claustrophobia in closed MRI scanners for the imaging of brain and spine.
Keywords:
MRI, Claustrophobia, Closed MRI, psychotherapy
