Pulmonary pseudoemboli: a new artifact arising from a commercial metal artifact reduction algorithm for computed tomographic image reconstruction.

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.