artifact

artifact /ar·ti·fact/ (ahr´tĭ-fakt″) any artificial (man-made) product; anything not naturally present, but introduced by some external source.

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ar·ti·fact or ar·te·fact (ärt-fkt)

n.

1. A structure or substance not normally present but produced by an external agent or action, such as a structure seen in a microscopic specimen after fixation that is not present in the living tissue.

2. A skin lesion produced or perpetuated by self-inflicted action.

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arti·fac·titious (-fk-tshs), arti·factu·al (-fkch-l) adj.

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artifact

[är′təfakt]

Etymology: L, ars, skill, facere, to make

anything artificially made; may be extraneous, irrelevant, or unwanted, such as a substance, structure, or piece of data or information. In radiologic imaging, spurious electronic signals may appear as an artifact in an image with as much strength as the signals produced by the real objects, thereby confusing the radiologist and the results of any examination.

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artifact,

n 1. anything made by human hands or activities.
2. a product that may develop during an analysis performed to identify the composition of a substance. Mainly a consequence of the conditions of the analysis.

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artifact (är´tfakt),

n a blemish or image in the radiograph that is not present in the roentgen image of the object.

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artifact

a structure or appearance that is not natural, but is due to manipulation (man-made).

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dermatohistopathological artifact

may be due to sampling errors (selection, preparation or technique) or processing of specimens.

radiological artifact

defects in the x-ray film image due to faults in the cassette (screen artifact) or in the film (film artifact).

static artifact

a mark on x-ray film caused by discharge of static electricity.

ultrasound artifact

irregularities produced in the image display. See acoustic shadowing, acoustic enhancement, comet-tail, reverberation.

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artifact

Artefact A structure not normally present, but produced by some external action; something artificial; the distortion of a substance or signal, which interferes with or obscures the interpretation of a study, or a structure that is not representative of a specimen's in vivo state, or which does not reflect the original sample, but rather the result of an isolation procedure, its handling or other factors; artifacts in electronic readout devices–eg, EEG, EKG, and EMG, may be due to loose leads or electrical contacts Cardiac pacing An electrical impulse of noncardiac origin which is recorded as a vertical spike on an EKG or other ECG monitor–eg a pacemaker pulse; electrical signals from muscle contractions, or myopotentials, are called muscle artifacts Imaging The artifact seen depends on the procedure–eg, barium enema, where zones of inconstant segmental contractions of the colon may be confused with organic constrictions or anatomic variations, due to mucosal or intramural tumors, or a metal surgical clip that obscures an anatomical structure. See Beam-hardening artefact, Edge artefact, Mosaic artefact, Ring artefact.