MRI: Wide Bore vs Open

At Lake Medical Imaging, a combination of increased space around the patient and greatly reduced scanning time means that even larger patients or those who feel claustrophobic in enclosed spaces can now experience comfortable and high-quality MRI exams in our wide bore Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit.

Before wide bore technology, patients who were too large to fit inside the opening of a high-field MRI magnet would have had to have their exams performed in an open MRI system that used low-field strength magnets, and therefore created lower-quality images.

Our wide bore MRI scanners are designed with a larger diameter opening, or bore, which offers patients the optimized comfort of an open MRI scanner with the high-quality imaging of high-field strength magnet systems.

Patients who experience claustrophobia find the wide bore allows for maximum space around their heads, which provides greater comfort. And with the shortest front to back magnet width, most of the exam is performed with the patient’s head entirely clear of the magnet area.

This high-quality wide bore MRI scan takes significantly less time than open MRI systems, so patients are in and out faster.

Image courtesy of Siemens