Which artifact is commonly seen in CT imaging and is caused by patient motion?

The artifact commonly seen in CT imaging that is caused by patient motion is motion artifact. This type of artifact occurs when the patient moves during the image acquisition process, resulting in blurred images or streaks. Motion can happen due to a variety of reasons, such as patient discomfort, involuntary movements, or breathing, which leads to inconsistent data capture as the CT scanner detects changes in tissue positions instead of stable anatomy.

Understanding motion artifact is critical for radiologic technologists and radiologists, as it can significantly affect the diagnostic quality of the images obtained. Proper patient instruction, use of sedation when necessary, and implementing the fastest acquisition speeds available can help minimize the occurrence of motion artifacts during CT scans.

The other artifacts mentioned, such as beam hardening, partial volume artifact, and the windmill artifact, arise from entirely different phenomena and do not specifically relate to patient motion. Beam hardening results from the differential attenuation of X-rays as they pass through dense structures, while partial volume effects occur due to the averaging of different tissues within a single voxel. The windmill artifact is an image distortion that can occur due to inconsistencies in the data during rotational scanning but is not directly linked to patient movement.