What is the term for artifacts from incomplete data acquisition due to the failure of detector elements?

The term that describes artifacts stemming from incomplete data acquisition due to the failure of detector elements is aliasing artifacts. These artifacts occur when the sampling of data is insufficient to accurately represent the spatial frequencies present in the imaged object. When detector elements fail or are non-functional, the data collected is incomplete, leading to misrepresentations in the reconstructed image. This can cause visual distortions or misleading features in the CT images.

Motion artifacts, while related to image quality, arise from patient movement during the scan rather than detector performance issues. Out-of-field artifacts are related to structures outside the field of view affecting the image but do not specifically pertain to detector malfunctions. Beam hardening artifacts occur due to the polychromatic nature of X-ray beams, where lower energy photons are absorbed more than higher energy ones, but again are unrelated to detector element failure. Therefore, aliasing accurately identifies the specific cause linked to incomplete data acquisition from malfunctioning detectors.