Motion artifact refers to image degradation caused by movement during ultrasound scanning, whether from patient motion, respiration, or cardiac motion. When tissues move during image acquisition, their position changes during data collection, resulting in blurring, ghosting, or distortion of the image. Motion artifacts are particularly problematic in cardiac and vascular imaging, where natural heart and breathing motion can obscure important details. Asking the patient to hold their breath, scanning during breath-hold, or using real-time imaging techniques that capture rapid cardiac motion helps minimize motion artifacts. Understanding motion artifacts is important because they can obscure real pathology or be mistaken for pathology themselves.
Sonography Term