Pulmonary pseudoemboli: a new artifact arising from a commercial metal artifact reduction algorithm for computed
Phillip M Cheng1, Miriam Romero, Vinay A Duddalwar
1From the Department of Radiology, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, CA.
Abstract:
Metal artifact reduction algorithms for computed tomographic (CT) image reconstruction have recently become commercially available on modern CT scanners for reducing artifacts from orthopedic hardware. However, we have observed that a commercial orthopedic metal artifact reduction algorithm can produce the appearance of artifactual pulmonary emboli when applied to spinal hardware in contrast-enhanced CT scans of the chest. We provide 4 case examples demonstrating this previously undescribed artifact.
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