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CT Artifact Recognition for the Nuclear Technologist

¹ Division of CT, Philips Medical, Cleveland, Ohio; ² Department of Radiology, Indiana University Medical Center, Indianapolis, Indiana; ³ Department of CT Physics, Philips Medical, Cleveland, Ohio; and ⁴ Department of CT Applications and Training, Philips Medical, Cleveland, Ohio

Correspondence: For correspondence or reprints contact: Robert Popilock, 595 Miner Rd., Cleveland, OH 44236. E-mail: Robert.popilock{at}philips.com

The goal of this article is to make the PET/CT and SPECT/CT operator aware of common artifacts found in CT. In diagnostic imaging, the ability to render an accurate diagnosis requires the technologist to take steps to optimize image quality and recognize when image quality has been compromised—that is, when there is an image artifact. One way these artifacts occur is through the inability of the CT linear attenuation image to precisely represent the linear attenuation map of a 2-dimensional section through the body. The reasons for this inability are multifold. First, CT is subject to the laws of x-ray quantum physics resulting in noise in all CT images. Moreover, all current CT x-ray systems generate a spectrum of energies. Also, CT scanners use detectors of finite dimension, as are the x-ray focal spots; reconstruct images from a finite number of samples distributed over a finite number of views; and acquire the data for each reconstruction over a finite period.

Key Words: PET/CT; quality assurance; SPECT/CT; CT; CT artifact recognition; x-ray