Breast Imaging Artifacts.

Artifacts appear on breast images for a number of reasons. Radiologic technologists play an important role in identifying artifacts that can help or hinder breast cancer diagnosis and in minimizing artifacts that degrade image quality. This article describes various artifacts that occur in breast imaging, along with their causes. The article focuses on artifacts in mammography, with a heavy emphasis on digital mammography, and on magnetic resonance imaging of the breast. Artifacts in ultrasonography of the breast, digital breast tomosynthesis, and positron emission mammography also are discussed.