The incidence of artifacts in cone beam computed tomography images: A pilot study

Abstract

Aim: Cone-beam computed tomography is an important diagnostic tool in dentistry. However, cone-beam computed tomographytechnology has various limitations such as image artifacts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of various artifactsor errors in the cone-beam computed tomography images and to investigate the correlation between artifacts and parameters suchas age groups, gender, imaging areas and acquisition times.Material and Methods: Five different types of artifacts were evaluated. Patient’s age, gender, the reason for radiographic examination,the field of view (FOV), acquisition time, anatomical area and presence of artifacts were recorded. The Pearson Chi-Square andFisher’s Exact test were used for comparisons of the parameters.Results: The images of 600 patients aged from 6 to 88 years (mean age ± standard deviation: 36.2 ±16.8) were examined. The beamhardening (dark band or streaks) were the most common artifacts (38.8%). An increase in the number of artifacts was observed withthe increase in FOV and voxel size (p