Table 3. Qualitative Image Quality Parameters.

	Cervicothoracic Spine			Thoracolumbar Spine
	Short-Bore MR Imaging	Open MR Imaging	P Value	Short-Bore MR Imaging	Open MR Imaging	P Value
	Arithmetic mean (SD)			Arithmetic mean (SD)
T2w sagittal	n = 18	n = 21		n = 30	n = 34
Overall image quality	2.1 (1.1)	3 (1)	.006	1.8 (0.7)	2.7 (0.7)	<.0001
Contrast	1.8 (0.9)	2.8 (0.8)	.003	1.7 (0.7)	2.4 (0.7)	<.0001
Contour sharpness	2.2 (1)	2.9 (0.9)	.03	1.7 (0.7)	2.2 (0.6)	.002
Noise	1.7 (0.6)	32 (0.8)	<.0001	2.2 (0.6)	3.2 (0.7)	<.0001
Artifactsa	2.6 (1)	2.2 (0.9)	.25	2.1 (0.7)	2.3 (0.6)	.11
T1w sagittal	n = 18	n = 21		n = 30	n = 34
Overall image quality	1.8 (0.8)	3.5 (0.7)	<.0001	1.8 (0.6)	2.7 (0.6)	<.0001
Contrast	1.9 (0.8)	3.2 (0.7)	<.0001	2 (0.7)	2.7 (0.6)	<.0001
Contour sharpness	2.2 (0.9)	3.8 (0.5)	<.0001	1.9 (0.6)	2.7 (0.6)	<.0001
Noise	1.6 (0.6)	2.7 (1)	.001	1.6 (0.5)	2.5 (0.6)	<.0001
Artifactsa	1.7 (0.8)	3 (1)	<.0001	1.6 (0.7)	2.6 (0.7)	<.0001
T2w axial	n = 19	n = 22		n  = 49	n = 54
Overall image quality	2.1 (0.7)	3.4 (0.7)	<.0001	2 (0.7)	3.5 (0.6)	<.0001
Contrast	2.2 (0.7)	3.2 (0.7)	<.0001	2.1 (0.8)	3.3 (0.6)	<.0001
Contour sharpness	2.1 (0.7)	3.2 (0.7)	<.0001	1.8 (0.7)	3 (0.6)	<.0001
Noise	1.8 (0.5)	3.5 (0.6)	<.0001	2.2 (0.6)	3.9 (0.4)	<.0001
Artifacts	2.7 (0.6)	2.7 (1)	.9	2.1 (0.9)	3.1 (0.8)	<.0001

An optimal score is defined as 1 and a poor score as 4. No sequence was rated nondiagnostic (score of 5) for any qualitative parameter.

^a Artifacts were mainly due to motion for both, short-bore and open MR imaging.