A NEW Disney-themed MRI experience is being rolled out to make scans less frightening for children in 87 countries worldwide.
Royal Philips and The Walt Disney Company announced that iconic Disney animated characters and stories are being incorporated into Philips Ambient Experience for MRI, which is going live across more than 100 NHS sites in the UK.
For many children, this type of immersive environment can help shift attention away from the clinical setting, creating a more comforting and engaging experience during scans and helping successful completion of MRIs.
Atul Gupta, Chief Medical Officer, Diagnosis and Treatment, Philips, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, said: “By bringing Disney stories into the MRI environment, we are helping create a setting where children can feel more at ease and remain still during scans.
“Reducing stress can improve the experience for young patients and their families, while helping care teams deliver efficient, high-quality imaging so they can care for more children each day, supporting better care for more people.”
Backed by Research
MRI scans can be particularly challenging for young children, with the need to lie still for up to 40 minutes amid loud and unfamiliar machinery.
In fact, 66% of paediatric patients report feeling anxious during MRI scans.1
This can in turn lead to re-scans, longer procedures and, in some cases, the need for sedation, increasing demands on care teams.
Such disruptions can limit the number of patients who can be seen in one day, leading to potential delays.
One study, across six hospitals in Europe, highlighted the positive impact of Ambient Experience with Disney themes.2
For children aged six to 10 years, post-scan paediatric patient stress levels were cut by 43% compared to pre-exam.
Further, pauses during scans dropped by 63% compared to procedures without the intervention.
Emilio J. Inarejos Clemente, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Sant Joan de Deu Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, said: “The data showed that a child-friendly audio-visual intervention reduced stress levels in young children and decreased scan disruptions, supporting a smoother MRI workflow.
“This can help clinicians maintain efficiency and focus on delivering high-quality diagnostic imaging, helping more patients to be seen without compromising care.”
Rollout in the UK
Around 180,000 children in the UK undergo MRI scans each year, with approximately one in three requiring a general anaesthetic due to movement or distress, figures from Little Journey, a paediatric healthcare company, suggest.
The Calderdale Royal Hospital is the first NHS site to introduce the Philips Ambient Experience with Disney themes, which uses iconic characters, lighting, and sound to help scans feel less frightening.
Clinicians at the site have reported that it is already helping more children successfully complete their scans.
Alison Lord, radiographer, Calderdale Royal Hospital, Halifax, UK, said: “We have huge success with this and our general anaesthetic rate has come right down.”
References
1 De Amorim e Silva CJT et al. Practice MRI: reducing the need for sedation and general anaesthesia in children undergoing MRI. Australas Radiol. 2006;50(4):319–23.
2 Van der Vleuten-Chraibi S et al. Magnetic resonance imaging related anxiety and workflow: impact of a child-friendly audio-visual intervention. Pediatr Radiol. 2025;55(9):1934–1942.
