{"id":4249,"date":"2022-05-24T11:02:09","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T08:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bioiatriki.com.cy\/?p=4249"},"modified":"2025-08-27T10:45:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T07:45:37","slug":"paidia-kai-kleistofovia-kata-ti-dienergeia-mri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bioiatriki.com.cy\/en\/paidia-kai-kleistofovia-kata-ti-dienergeia-mri\/","title":{"rendered":"Children and claustrophobia during MRI test"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Being tested with MRI is a stressful procedure. For adults, stress during MRI is linked to both the procedure itself and its results. For our little friends however, every concern around MRI testing, is exclusively about the procedure. From my experience however, most children undergoing a MRI test, not only do not exhibit a claustrophobic behavior, but they even enjoy it. Naturally, the factors responsible for this behavior vary, nevertheless, the most important of them all is the proper preparation of the child for the MRI test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Causes of claustrophobia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to MRI, the factors that lead a child to develop claustrophobic behavior could be briefly categorized as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A) Child\u2019s temperament: Every child has its own temperament that defines how they will express themselves when they are uncomfortable under the feeling of stress and fear (character, environment, culture, imagination).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B) Age: A child may undergo too much, a little, or no stress, depending on its age. The age-stress combination does not follow the rules of proportionality. In other words, there are toddlers that do not exhibit any fear or worry even when they are on the examination bed, while there are other toddlers of the same age that feel uncomfortable even when they enter the examination room. The same statement applies for teenagers as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C) Experiences: Some unpleasant and traumatizing experiences that took place either during childhood (e.g., being trapped in a small space during play or punishment by being locked in the room) or later (e.g., being trapped in an elevator, road accident, bereavement), may trigger the child\u2019s brain with negative feelings, when they even look at the MRI scanner device, due to its shape (i.e., \u201ctunnel\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the most difficult type of claustrophobia that a technologist-radiologist has to deal with, is the one related with the unpleasant experiences from the parents-guardians towards the children. Adults who have experienced anxiety due to their own previous examination or have been influenced by other people\u2019s experiences, very often tend to \u201cterrorize\u201d the child in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we move on to the techniques that can reverse the above difficulties, it is necessary to clarify that each examination requires a defined level of cooperation. The protocol of each examination is based on the clinical question posed by the referring physician. The more specialized, and therefore, more time consuming the protocol is, the higher the degree of cooperation is required from the child. If cooperation is not possible, the option of general anesthesia to perform the examination should be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undoubtedly, every child is unique and this is the main axis on which its preparation for any medical examination will be based. Specifically, as far as MRI is concerned, the key techniques for completing the test are how both the technologist-radiologist and the parent-companion prepare the child for the test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How we prepare the child for the test<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we could theoretically create time segments for the preparation, it would be like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n