What Does It Mean When An MRI Shows An Artifact?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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It is

a feature appearing in an image that is not present in the original object

. Many different artifacts can occur during MRI, some affecting the diagnostic quality, while others may be confused with pathology. Artifacts can be classified as patient-related, signal processing-dependent and hardware (machine)-related.

What is pulsation artefact?

A

common artifact that can mimic blunt traumatic aortic injury

(BTAI) or an aortic dissection is pulsation artifact. This artifact occurs most commonly in the ascending aorta, but it may occur elsewhere in the thoracic aorta, including the aortic isthmus ([1–4].

What is pulsation artifact on MRI?

A

common artifact that can mimic blunt traumatic aortic injury

(BTAI) or an aortic dissection is pulsation artifact. This artifact occurs most commonly in the ascending aorta, but it may occur elsewhere in the thoracic aorta, including the aortic isthmus ([1–4].

What is vascular pulsation artifact?

Phase-encoded motion artifact is one of many MRI artifacts occurring as a result of tissue/fluid moving during the scan. … Motion that is random such as the patient moving produces a smear in the phase direction. Periodic motion, such as respiratory or cardiac/vascular pulsation, produces

discrete

, well-defined ghosts.

What is the most common cause of artifact when performing MRI?

While there are many types and causes of artifacts, being able to identify them and minimize their effects helps radiologists make proper diagnoses.

Patient movement, the inherent aspects of MR imaging, and contamination

are the most common sources of artifacts in MRI images.

What qualifies as an artifact?

1a : a usually simple object (such as a tool or ornament)

showing human workmanship or modification as distinguished from

a natural object especially : an object remaining from a particular period caves containing prehistoric artifacts.

What is flow artifact?

Flow artifacts are

caused by flowing blood or fluids in the body

. A liquid flowing through a slice can experience an RF pulse and then flow out of the slice by the time the signal is recorded.

What is the most common type of artifact?


Muscle (electromyogram)

activity

Myogenic potentials are the most common artifacts (see images below). Frontalis and temporalis muscles (eg, clenching of jaw muscles) are common causes.

What is an example of an artifact?

Examples include

stone tools, pottery vessels

, metal objects such as weapons and items of personal adornment such as buttons, jewelry and clothing. … Natural objects, such as fire cracked rocks from a hearth or plant material used for food, are classified by archaeologists as ecofacts rather than as artefacts.

What does artifact mean in medical terms?

In medical imaging, artifacts are

misrepresentations of tissue structures produced by imaging techniques such

as ultrasound, X-ray, CT scan, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). … Physicians typically learn to recognize some of these artifacts to avoid mistaking them for actual pathology.

Are artifacts common on MRI?


Almost every MRI exam includes some kind of artifacts

. Depending on their origin, one can classify them into the following groups: Truncation artifacts which occur near sharp high-contrast boundaries and are also known as the Gibbs phenomenon. They appear as multiple, alternating bright and dark lines – “ringing”.

What is ghosting in MRI?

Ghosting is

a type of structured noise appearing as repeated versions of the main object (or parts thereof) in the image

. They occur because of signal instability between pulse cycle repetitions. Ghosts are usually blurred, smeared, and shifted and are most commonly seen along the phase encode direction.

How do you reduce motion artifacts?

Several methods of reducing motion artifacts are then suggested. These include:

randomization of views, averaging views, matching repeat times to the respiratory period, hybrid imaging, ROPE and COPE

. The latter two methods reorder the data acquisition to destroy the coherence of the motion.

What are the most common artifacts found on US imaging?

The beam width, side lobe,

reverberation

, comet tail, ring-down, mirror image, speed displacement, refraction, attenuation, shadowing, and increased through-transmission artifacts are encountered routinely in clinical practice.

How do you reduce artifacts in MRI?

Basic methods to reduce metallic artifacts include use of

spin-echo or fast spin-echo sequences

with long echo train lengths, short inversion time inversion-recovery (STIR) sequences for fat suppression, a high bandwidth, thin section selection, and an increased matrix.

What is a risk during an MRI procedure?

The strong, static magnetic field of

the MRI scanner will pull on magnetic materials

and may cause unwanted movement of the medical device. The radiofrequency energy and magnetic fields that change with time may cause heating of the implanted medical device and the surrounding tissue, which could lead to burns.

Diane Mitchell
Author
Diane Mitchell
Diane Mitchell is an animal lover and trainer with over 15 years of experience working with a variety of animals, including dogs, cats, birds, and horses. She has worked with leading animal welfare organizations. Diane is passionate about promoting responsible pet ownership and educating pet owners on the best practices for training and caring for their furry friends.