Problems and the diversity of challenge experienced related to whole-body MRI
| Problem | No challenge/enjoyable | Low challenge | Medium/high | Did not complete |
| Enclosed space | “I’m not claustrophobic…that (enclosed space) doesn’t frighten me” s36 (50–59, male, L) | “Maybe in the back of my mind you’re worried about it (enclosed space)” s5 (60–69, female, C) | “Coffin came to mind…initially, you feel like ‘Oh god, it’s so close in here’” s26 (60–69, female, L) | “I had this sense of being in a sarcophagus” s17 (60–69, male, L) |
| Noise | “I thought it like music really…and it relaxed me” s64 (80+, male, C) | “the noise was a bit…disconcerting because it was quite loud and quite sort of clanking and banging…and it took some time getting used to it” s63 (<50, male, C) | “that's one of the worst ones that I’ve had to go through with the noise…I felt like something was going to fall off and hit me.” s54(<50, female, L) | |
| Scan duration/discomfort | “It’s actually quite comfortable in there” s87 (60–69, male, L) | “It was not excruciatingly painful. It just ached a bit, that is all.” s18 (60–69, male, C) | “My back was uncomfortable. My, the back of my neck was uncomfortable…” “my brain was saying, ‘You can’t go much longer…’” s56 (60–69, male, C) | |
| Negative emotions (eg, anxiety, panic, shock, distress) |
“I mean, there wasn’t, you know, anything in particular to be frightening (sic)” s76 (<50, male, C) | “when I first went in there, I was quite shocked….I wondered what the hell was going on…after a while I quite enjoyed it” s18 (60–69, male, C) |
“when I first laid down in the scan I was frightened” s79 (60–69, female, C), and “I’m lying there and all of a sudden, they put all these things on top of me… And I’m thinking, ‘Oh, my God! …this is threatening’” s53 (60–69, male, C) | “I don’t know whether the people doing the scan knew I had lung cancer, I didn’t feel any empathy or any sort of friendly attitude. I walked out of there feeling quite upset actually” s30 (50–59,male, L) |