Analysis of the reasons for motion-impaired chest CTs
Chest and cardiac computed tomography (CT) are more susceptible to motion artifacts than any other body region. These artifacts generate from inadequate or suboptimal breath-hold and cardiac pulsations. So, the conclusion is that the motion artifacts are a patient-based artifact that occurs with voluntary or involuntary patient movement during image acquisition. Motion-impaired chest CT contributes considerably to wrong diagnosis and interpretation while detecting lesions and their characteristics. It may also lead to overdiagnosis (such as bronchiectasis and pulmonary embolism). We have investigated the issue to define the clinical process improvement strategies that reduce the frequency of motion artifacts and expiratory phase scanning in chest CT. The cause and effect diagram for motion impaired and expiratory phase chest CT examinations is demonstrated below.
Motion-impaired chest CTs
Non-cooperative patients
Staff issues
Cooperative patients
Equipment issues
The root cause analysis is a structured and organized approach to define the strategies for remediation of any problem. This fishbone describes the issues responsible for motion-impaired chest CT visually.
Curated from community experience and public sources: