Leveraging an efficient preparation method into magnetic resonance examinations of young children aged 3-6

To evaluate the benefits of a multifaceted concept, ANMTE (Appropriate Number of children, appropriate learning Methods, appropriate adaptive Training, and appropriate Encouragement), proposed by our group, in improving the success rate, efficiency and image quality of Magnetic Resonance (MR) examinations for children from 3 to 6 years old.

In this study, 150 participants were included from July 2019 to January 2023, including 50 non-sedated children in ANMTE group, 50 in the group with sedative, and 50 in the group with routine preparations. ANMTE refers to appropriate number of children, appropriate learning methods, appropriate adaptive training, and appropriate encouragement, developed by our group for MR examinations of children from 3 to 6 years old. Group differences in success rate, efficiency, and image quality were evaluated across the three groups using Kaplan-Meier, Log-rank and Chi-square test, respectively.

The rates of successful MR examinations were 44/50 (88 %), 45/50 (90 %), and 36/50 (72 %) for ANMTE group, the group with sedatives and the group with routine preparations, respectively (P = 0.03). Image quality of the 3 groups showed no significant group difference (P = 0.067). In terms of the median duration of MR examinations, ANMTE group was comparable to the group with sedative (both were about 10.0 min), but better than the group with routine preparations (16.5 min) (P = 0.024).

We demonstrated the feasibility of our comprehensive nursing method ANMTE in MR examinations of young children, similar to the group with sedative at the success rate and image quality as well as the durations of MR examinations. ANMTE has not only better efficiency but also higher safety as it does not require sedative, which could be promising in clinical routine MR examinations for young children aged 3-6 years old.