Banding and Step-Stair Artifacts on the Cardiac-CT Caused By Pseudo-Ectopic Beats

Step-stair and banding artifacts may result from irregular ventricular rhythm caused by atrial fibrillation or premature ectopic ventricular contractions. In the case reported here, severe banding and misalignment artifacts occurred due to electrocardiographic noise mimicking ectopic beats. Severe EKG noise or pseudo-ectopic beats may cause rare but serious artifacts during cardiac-CT acquisition. Vendor-provided software for correcting ectopic beats can be used to remove pseudo-ectopic beats and eliminate artifacts caused by the EKG noise. All efforts should be made to prevent this kind of problem from happening in the first place.