Artifact In CT


Artifact In CT

Artifact Origins

Physics Based

Beam hardening

Partial volume effect.

Photon starvation.

Under sampling.

Patient Based

Metal.

Patient motion

Inadequate scan field.

Scanner Based

Detector sensitivity

Spiral Artifacts in MSCT

3D and MPR artifacts:

Stair step artifacts.

Zebra artifact

Windmill artifact.

Cone beam artifact

Physics Based

Beam Hardening

Causes

The average energy of the X-ray beam becomes greater (Harder) as it passes through tissue.

Because the attenuation of bone is greater than tissue, bone causes more beam Hardening than soft tissue.

The beam hardening occurs artifacts in CT

because rays from some projection angle are hardened to a differing extent than rays from other angles, confusing the reconstruction algorithm.

Beam hardening cause broad dark or streaks artifacts.

 (1)

Physics Based

Beam Hardening

Correction

Prefilter the X-ray beam near the focus ( bowtie)

Avoid highly absorbing bony regions by patient

positioning or gantry tilt.

Algorithms.

Beam hardening correction soft ware.


 (2

Physics Based

Partial Volume Effect

Causes

Occurs where object does not fill scan

plain.

CT number is based on μ for tissue voxels.

If voxel non - uniform ( contains several materials)

detection process will average.

Partial volume effect cause band and streak artifacts.

Correction

Use thinner slices.



ct artefact

Physics Based

Photon Starvation

Causes

Parts of individual projections can be very noise due to insufficient photons passing through widest part of patient.

Photon starvation caused streak artifacts.

Correction

Increase of photon through widest parts without unnecessary doe through narrower parts.


Patient Based

Metal Artifacts

Causes

Caused by metallic materials e.g. Dental Fillings, Surgical Clips , Electrodes and Jewellery.

Metal artifacts caused streak artifacts.

Correction

Avoid metal parts.

Gantry angulation e.g. to avoid dental fillings.

Algorithm.



Patient Based

Patient Motion

Causes

Patient motion, Organ motion, Heart beating, Breathing and Swallowing.

Motion artifacts caused streaks and blurring artifacts.

Correction

Fast scanning.

Algorithm



Patient Based

Inadequate Scan Field

Causes

Patient scanned with armsdown.

Arms outside scan field.

Computer has incomplete information relating to arms.

Inadequate scan field caused streaks artifacts.



Scanner Based

Detector sensitivity

In third generation scanners, detector gain differences can cause circular artifacts to be present in the image.

1 or more bad detector.

Presence of circular artifacts indicates that the detector gain needs re-calibration.



3D & MPR Artifacts

Stair Step Artifacts

Causes

Large reconstruction interval.

Asymmetric helical interpolation.

Correction

Reduced with thinner slices.

Adaptive interpolation.



Spiral Artifacts

Zebra Artifact

Helical interpolation process gives rise tovariations in noise along the z-axis.

Noise in homogeneity increases with distance from axis of rotation.

This can show up as faint stripes in MIPS, which get more pronounced away from the centre.


Spiral Artifacts in MSCT

Windmill Artifact

Windmill artifacts are propeller like dark / bright structures in the vicinity of their sources, that seem to rotate around their center when scrolling through the stack of axial images

Windmill artifacts in axial images may lead to streak artifacts in reconstructions, e.g. horizontal streaks Coronal or Sagital MPR$.



Windmill Artifact

The angle between the vanes of the artifact equals the projection angle between detector rows intersecting the plain of reconstruction.

Use thicker slice to avoid the vanes.





Windmill Artifact
Reduce the pitch to loss the vanes.
Overlapping reconstructions:
Better Z-axis resolution.
Better 3D imaging.



Cone Beam Artifact
Cone artifacts arise due to an approximation of the measured slices of MSCT systems to truly parallel planes.
If the number of slices increases, deviations from this simplified description start to grow and result in characteristic artifacts. As the misfit increases away from the center of rotation.



Cone Beam Artifact

Cone artifacts typically appear in the periphery.

Cone beam depending on the number of detector rows.



Cone Beam Effect

As number of slices increases, beam is more diverging, outer slices are distorted.

Effect gets worse the larger the cone beam angle and the thinner the slice.

Negligible up to 8 slices, significant for 16 slice scanners.


Cone Beam Effect

Cone beam reconstruction reduced cone beam artifact.

Double Z-sampling technology improve the resolution.





The CT stair-step artifact is found in straight structures which are oriented obliquely with respect to movement of the table and appear around the edges of sagittal and coronal reformatted images when wide collimations and non-overlapping reconstruction intervals are used.


It is also seen in coronary CT angiography when step-wise reconstructions are from different cardiac phases. This is associated with heart rate variability and irregular heart rates. 


Solution

This can be minimized by, using smaller collimation and overlapping reconstruction in helical imaging.


In coronary CT angiography, 256 and 320-detector CT scanners typically avoid this artifact. Some authors recommend beta-blockers to reduce stair-step artifact, others report limited results in achieving target heart rates with their use.



Ring artifacts are a CT phenomenon that occur due to miscalibration or failure of one or more detector elements in a CT scanner. They occur close to the isocentre of the scan and are usually visible on multiple slices at the same location. They are a common problem in cranial CT.


The remedy is usually simple, recalibrate the scanner and let the referrer know that the worrying-looking ring shadows are artifactual. Occasionally detector elements need replacement which can be costl




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