CT artifacts

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CT artifacts are common and can occur for various reasons. Knowledge of these artifacts is important because they can mimic pathology (e.g. partial volume artifact) or can degrade image quality to non-diagnostic levels.

CT artifacts can be classified according to the underlying cause of the artifact.

Patient-based artifacts

Physics-based artifacts

beam hardening
- cupping artifact
- streak and dark bands
- metal artifact / high-density foreign material artifact
partial volume averaging
quantum mottle (noise)
photon starvation
aliasing
truncation artifact

Hardware-based artifacts

ring artifact
tube arcing
out of field artifact
air bubble artifact
helical and multichannel artifact
- windmill artifact
- cone beam effect
- multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) artifact
  - zebra artifact
  - stair step artifact

-<p><strong>CT artifacts</strong> are common and can occur for various reasons. Knowledge of these <a href="/articles/radiological-image-artifact">artifacts</a> is important because they can mimic pathology (e.g. partial volume artifact) or can degrade image quality to non-diagnostic levels.</p><p>CT artifacts can be classified according to the underlying cause of the artifact. </p><h5>Patient-based artifacts</h5><ul>
~~-<li><a href="/articles/motion-artifact-2">motion artifact</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/transient-interruption-of-contrast">transient interruption of contrast</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/clothing-artifact">clothing artifact</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/jewellery-artifacts-1">jewellery artifact</a></li>~~
~~-</ul><h5>Physics-based artifacts</h5><ul>~~
~~-<li>~~
~~-<a href="/articles/beam-hardening">beam hardening</a> <ul>~~
~~-<li>cupping artifact</li>~~
~~-<li>streak and dark bands</li>~~
~~-<li>metal artifact / high-density foreign material artifact</li>~~
~~-</ul>~~
~~-</li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/partial-volume-averaging">partial volume averaging</a></li>~~
~~-<li>quantum mottle (<a href="/articles/noise">noise</a>)</li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/photon-starvation-2">photon starvation</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/aliasing-artifact-ct">aliasing</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/truncation-artifact-ct">truncation artifact</a></li>~~
~~-</ul><h5>Hardware-based artifacts</h5><ul>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/ring-artifact-1">ring artifact</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/tube-arcing">tube arcing</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/out-of-field-artifact">out of field artifact</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/air-bubble-artifact-1">air bubble artifact</a></li>~~
~~-<li>helical and multichannel artifact<ul>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/windmill-artifact">windmill artifact</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/cone-beam-effect">cone beam effect</a></li>~~
~~-<li>multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) artifact<ul>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/zebra-stripes-1">zebra artifact</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/ct-stair-step-artifact">stair step artifact</a></li>~~
~~-</ul>~~
~~-</li>~~
~~-</ul>~~
~~-</li>~~
~~-</ul><h4>See also</h4><ul>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/radiological-image-artifact">artifacts (general)</a></li>~~
~~-<li><a href="/articles/mri-artifacts-1">MRI artifacts</a></li>~~
+<p><strong>CT artifacts</strong> are common and can occur for various reasons. Knowledge of these <a href="/articles/radiological-image-artifact">artifacts</a> is important because they can mimic pathology (e.g. partial volume artifact) or can degrade image quality to non-diagnostic levels.</p><p>CT artifacts can be classified according to the underlying cause of the artifact. </p><h5>Patient-based artifacts</h5><ul>
+<li><a href="/articles/motion-artifact-2">motion artifact</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/transient-interruption-of-contrast">transient interruption of contrast</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/clothing-artifact">clothing artifact</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/jewellery-artifacts-1">jewellery artifact</a></li>
+</ul><h5>Physics-based artifacts</h5><ul>
+<li>
+<a href="/articles/beam-hardening">beam hardening</a> <ul>
+<li>cupping artifact</li>
+<li>streak and dark bands</li>
+<li>metal artifact / high-density foreign material artifact</li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+<li><a href="/articles/partial-volume-averaging">partial volume averaging</a></li>
+<li>quantum mottle (<a href="/articles/noise">noise</a>)</li>
+<li><a href="/articles/photon-starvation-2">photon starvation</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/aliasing-artifact-ct">aliasing</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/truncation-artifact-ct">truncation artifact</a></li>
+</ul><h5>Hardware-based artifacts</h5><ul>
+<li><a href="/articles/ring-artifact-2">ring artifact</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/tube-arcing">tube arcing</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/out-of-field-artifact">out of field artifact</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/air-bubble-artifact-1">air bubble artifact</a></li>
+<li>helical and multichannel artifact<ul>
+<li><a href="/articles/windmill-artifact">windmill artifact</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/cone-beam-effect">cone beam effect</a></li>
+<li>multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) artifact<ul>
+<li><a href="/articles/zebra-stripes-1">zebra artifact</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/ct-stair-step-artifact">stair step artifact</a></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+</ul><h4>See also</h4><ul>
+<li><a href="/articles/radiological-image-artifact">artifacts (general)</a></li>
+<li><a href="/articles/mri-artifacts-1">MRI artifacts</a></li>

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