Siemens MAGNETOM Skyra 3T
Manufacturer: Siemens Healthineers · Modality: MRI
3 Tesla clinical workhorse. 70 cm wide bore (shared with Aera 1.5T), Tim 4G coil platform, solid clinical-grade gradient performance. Used across neuro, MSK, body, cardiac, breast, and prostate imaging in academic + community hospitals.
What makes Skyra distinct from Prisma
- Lighter gradients — Skyra 45 mT/m (standard) vs Prisma 80 mT/m. Adequate for clinical; not research-grade for advanced DTI or fMRI.
- Lower capital + service cost than Prisma.
- Same 70 cm wide bore, same Tim 4G platform, same syngo MR host.
- Clinical throughput positioning — the 3T most centers install when they don't need Prisma's research-tier gradient performance.
Specs
- 3 T · 70 cm wide bore
- 45 mT/m gradients (effective), 200 T/m/s slew
- Tim 4G · up to 204 matrix elements · up to 32 channels
- syngo MR XA (current) or VE (earlier units)
- BioMatrix sensors (newer revisions)
Clinical positioning
Workhorse 3T. Direct competitor to GE Signa Pioneer and Philips Ingenia 3T. Favored for:
- Wide-bore patient comfort (70 cm is meaningful vs legacy 60 cm 3T)
- Clinical cardiac MRI
- Prostate MRI
- Neuro at higher SNR vs 1.5T
Service reality
3 T brings its own considerations vs 1.5 T:
- Higher SAR → protocol adaptations + careful scan planning
- Stronger fringe field → 5-gauss-line expansion (site-planning impact)
- RF amplifier is bigger + more expensive
- Cryogen economics similar to 1.5 T (helium is helium)