What is a common cause of streaking artifacts in CT imaging from significant x-ray absorption?

Streaking artifacts in CT imaging commonly arise from beam hardening, which occurs when lower-energy x-rays are absorbed more than higher-energy x-rays as they pass through dense materials, such as bones or metal implants. As the x-ray beam traverses differing densities, the average energy of the beam increases, resulting in a distortion of the image. This effect can create streaks or dark bands on the reconstructed images, particularly in areas where there is a significant contrast in attenuation, leading to misrepresentations.

In contrast, motion can cause blurring rather than streaking artifacts, as the image is captured while the patient or internal structures are in motion. Cone beam artifacts typically relate to errors in three-dimensional imaging, particularly in volumetric data acquisition, but they do not specifically relate to significant x-ray absorption. Partial volume averaging happens when a voxel encompasses multiple tissue types, blurring the boundaries between them but does not directly lead to the high-contrast streaking associated with dense materials.

Understanding beam hardening helps in recognizing how different density materials influence the x-ray beam and subsequently affect image quality, which is essential for interpreting CT images accurately.