Italian scientists have made a CAT scanner that tracks down a patient's body instead of forcing them into a claustrophobic tube.
The makers say the yoke-like machine, dubbed MrOpen (Magnetic Resonance Open), will ease the anxiety that leads some patients, especially children, to refuse to climb in.
Anxiety and heightened blood pressure also sometimes affect test results, experts say.
MrOpen will also make scans possible for obese people who cannot fit into a conventional CAT machine, and allow surgeons to carry out scans while they operate.
The technology of the new machine is based on a recently discovered superconducting material called magnesium dioburide, Carlo Ferdeghini of Genoa's Institute of Matter Physics (INFM) said.
''We managed to synthesise it into tiny threads stretching for kilometres and then we wound them up into superconducting bobbins that form the scanner's magnets,'' he said.
INFM worked with the Lamia laboratory of Italy's National Research Council (CNR) and a high-tech medical equipment company called Paramed.
A CNR spin-off company called Columbus also provided some of the know-how.
