Artifactual Appearance of Thrombosis on Using Metal Artifact Reduction Software Reconstruction in Computed Tomographic Angiography

The authors attempted to use metal artifact reduction software in 2 computed tomographic angiogram studies to decrease beam hardening. Although the beam hardening artifacts were reduced in the postprocessed images, there was an artifactual appearance of thrombosis in the adjacent arteries in the first case and in the inflow cannula of a left ventricular assist device in the second case. Comparison of the reconstructed images with the original images is therefore essential to avoid a misdiagnosis.