[The problem of metal clip artefacts in computerized tomography]

Ligature clips have proved to exhibit increasing radiodensity from titanium up to silver, steel and tantalum, according to the atomic number. clips of titanium, steel and tantalum attached to the patient's abdominal wall confirmed these findings in a plain film (n = 5), a digital scout view (n = 10) and a transverse CT scan (n = 10). The extent of the radial artefacts caused by the clips is directly related to their imaged intensity, being high for tantalum and low for steel and titanium. Because of the poor visualization of the titanium clips on the plain film, the authors recommend steel clips for the clinical test which appears to be necessary in view of the possible concomitant artefacts that could appear due to vascular pulsation.