Table 1. Characteristics of the 93 Randomized Patients who Underwent Spinal MR Imaging.
| Short-Bore MR (n = 44) | Open MR (n = 49) | P Value | |
| Female sex | 35 (79.5) | 40 (81.6) | .8 |
| Age | 53 (SD, 11.4) | 53.1 (SD, 12.7) | .1 |
| Age categories | .7 | ||
| <30 | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | |
| 30 - <50 | 22 (50) | 23 (46.9) | |
| 50 - <70 | 16 (36.4) | 20 (40.8) | |
| ≥70 | 6 (13.6) | 5 (10.2) | |
| Body height in cm | 167.9 (SD, 8.6) | 168.3 (SD, 10.3) | .8 |
| Body weight in kg | 79.6 (SD, 23.3) | 84.9 (SD, 25.9) | .3 |
| Body mass index (BMI) | 28.1 (SD, 7.7) | 29.7 (SD, 7.3) | .3 |
| BMI categories | .5 | ||
| <20 | 4 (9.1) | 1 (2) | |
| 20- <3 | (54.5) | 28 (57.1) | |
| 30- <40 | 12 (27.3) | 15 (30.6) | |
| ≥40 | 4 (9.1) | 5 (10.2) | |
| Maximum body circumference in cm | 112.8 (SD, 17.3) | 115.6 (SD, 14.4) | .4 |
| Region of MR imaging | .9 | ||
| Cervicothoracic spine | 14 (31.8) | 15 (30.6) | |
| Thoracolumbar spine | 26 (59.1) | 28 (57.1) | |
| Whole spine | 4 (9.1) | 6 (12.2) | |
| Claustrophobia Questionnaire mean valuea | 2.38 (SD, 0.75) | 2.32 (SD, 0.65) | .7 |
| State anxiety before MR imagingb | 2.65 (SD, 0.56) | 2.65 (SD, 0.68) | 1 |
Data are number (%) or arithmetic mean (SD). Percentages may not total 100% because of rounding.
a The Claustrophobia Questionnaire (CLQ) [16] consists of 26 items which assess two separate but related fears hypothesized to comprise claustrophobia: the fear of suffocation and the fear of restriction. For each of the 26 items of the CLQ, anxiety is rated on a scale from 0 (not at all anxious) to 4 (extremely anxious).
b Directly before MR imaging, the State questionnaire of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) [33] was used to assess patients' state anxiety. It consits of 20 items to be rated on a scale from 1 (almost never) to 4 (very much so).