Patient Anxiety During Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) represents an advanced, radiation-free imaging technique that enables comprehensive evaluation of the entire body. Its application is well established in oncological practice, supported by international guidelines for the assessment of various malignancies. WB-MRI is particularly effective in detecting both bone and soft tissue lesions, providing accurate tumor staging and supporting optimal therapeutic monitoring. Although WB-MRI is a non-invasive and painless procedure, adequate patient preparation is essential to ensure its acceptability and smooth integration into the clinical workflow. Several psychological factors may influence patient acceptance of WB-MRI, potentially affecting the efficiency of the diagnostic process. Adult patients often experience significant anxiety, fear, or claustrophobia during the examination, sometimes requiring sedation. Evidence suggests that up to 37% of adults experience severe distress both before and during the WB-MRI scan. The main source of anxiety is usually the confinement in a narrow space for extended periods; however, additional stressors such as worry about the diagnostic outcome, loud scanner noise, vibrations, environmental isolation, and immobilization may further exacerbate patient discomfort and increase anxiety.

These inconveniences may lead up to 5% of patients to prematurely interrupt scanning. Furthermore, post-scan anxiety can contribute to the development of MRI-related fear or long-term phobia. Even when scanning is completed, coping with high levels of distress may result in motion that compromises image quality and reduces diagnostic accuracy.

From a psychological assessment perspective, a precise characterization of MRI-related anxiety is also crucial for clarifying its underlying dimensions and for evaluating change following targeted interventions. To gain a deeper understanding of the specific psychological responses elicited during MRI and to design psychometrically robust interventions aimed at reducing distress, a dedicated instrument that accurately measures MRI-related anxiety is required. A review of the existing literature indicates that the questionnaires previously used in MRI contexts are largely adaptations of general anxiety assessment tools that were originally developed to capture broad state-trait anxiety or hospital-related distress, such as the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. To fill this gap in context-specific assessment, a new tailored questionnaire was developed by Ahlander and colleagues, capable of capturing the unique situational and environmental factors contributing to anxiety during MRI procedures, and of establishing its reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change in this particular setting. However, this instrument has so far been translated and validated only in a limited number of populations (e.g., English- and Swedish-speaking samples), and has not yet undergone a rigorous linguistic and cultural adaptation for Italian users. As a result, the Italian population still lacks a context-specific measure for assessing anxiety related to magnetic resonance imaging, leaving clinicians and researchers without an adequate tool for evaluating MRI-related anxiety in this setting.