en Radiobiology Radiobiology تحقيق بديع Original Research <div style="text-align: justify;">Background: The existence of air in hollow organs in the thoracic cavity constitutes a life-threatening situation most of the times. However, sometimes in thoracic Computed Tomography (CT) there are artifacts from different sources that could mimic air densities, disorientating the diagnosis. Materials and Methods: 100 patients (46 females and 54 males, mean age: 60 years, range: 20-90 years), who had been routinely scanned in the area of thorax using three different imaging protocols (follow up, aorta, pulmonary vessels) were retrospectively studied. In 67 cases, contrast agent was used during the examination. Every case was studied by two specialists. Results: Artifacts in pulmonary veins were observed in 38 of the cases. Of these artifacts 27 stemmed from contrast agent, calcifications in the vessels, metallic implants, movement of the patient, malfunction of a detector due to the size of field of view (FOV) or due to the existence of contrast agent on the examination table of the CT scanner. In 11 cases, small amounts of air had been inserted into blood circulation during contrast injection. Conclusions: This study characterized and classified many artifacts related to thorax CT in order to separate them from other serious thoracic pathologies (e.g. aortic dissection, ulcer of veins or arteries). The knowledge and identification of the different types of artifacts is very important in order to avoid the risk of misdiagnosis.</div> Streak artifacts, CT, air embolism, Air bubble, contrast agent. 653 659 http://ijrr.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-2188-40&slc_lang=en&sid=1 E. Lavdas 7900319475328460020280 7900319475328460020280 No University of West Attica, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Athens, Greece M. Papaioannou 7900319475328460020281 7900319475328460020281 No Animus Kyanoys Stavros, Department of Radiology, Larissa, Greece A. Tsikrika 7900319475328460020282 7900319475328460020282 No General University Hospital of Larissa, Department of Radiology, Greece E. Pappas 7900319475328460020283 7900319475328460020283 No Animus Kyanoys Stavros, Department of Radiology, Larissa, Greece G.K. Sakkas 7900319475328460020284 7900319475328460020284 No General University Hospital of Larissa, Department of Radiology, Greece V. Roka 7900319475328460020285 7900319475328460020285 No Health Center of Farkadona, Trikala, Greece S. Kostopoulos 7900319475328460020286 7900319475328460020286 No University of West Attica, Medical Image and Signal Processing Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Athens, Greece P. Mavroidis panayiotis_mavroidis@med.unc.edu 7900319475328460020287 7900319475328460020287 Yes Department of Radiation Oncology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA