MR Imaging Artifacts in the Head and Neck Region

MR Imaging artifacts are features appearing in MR images that are not present in the original anatomy. MR imaging artifacts can be patient-related, hardware-related, or signal-processing–related and affect diagnostic quality or mimic pathology. It is necessary to take MR imaging artifacts into consideration when interpreting images. A basic knowledge of MR imaging physics and the potential origin of MR imaging artifacts can help to find solutions to eliminate or reduce the influence of artifacts on image quality by adjusting acquisition parameters appropriately for a better diagnosis.