MOTION ARTIFACT Causes: due to improper preparation of patient, lack of communication skills, patient conditions. Appearances: Blurring, Unsharpness, Underexposed Corrective Action: Provide sufficient preparation of patient (immobilization, sedation), Clear and concise instructions to achieve good cooperation, and assess the patient condition properly, reduce exposure time.

IMPROPER PATIENT POSITION ARTIFACT Causes: Technical skills, Inadequate rotating or turning with optimum angulation, patient conditions. Appearances: Overlapping structures, Obscuring the ROI, Distortion, Magnification. Corrective action: Identify the proper standard/modification techniques, Use accessories equipment (sponges, bottles etc.) for better positioning techniques

WRONG SCREEN-FILM MATCH Causes: Improper match of film and screen combination; e.g. speed, film base Appearances: Underexposed, Overexposed, High contrast, Low contrast Corrective action: properly selected the film and screen combination, Identify the film base (blue or green) and speed

POOR SCREEN CONTACT Causes: Due to film and screen is not fit properly (not even surface) Appearances: High density at poor area, Obscuring pathology (ROI) Corrective Action: Replace the screen, Quality control tests

DOUBLE EXPOSURE Causes: Expose the same film twice Appearances: Overexposed (High density), Overlapping image, Blurring Corrective Action: Repeat the new film

WARPED CASSETTE Causes: Leaking of light, Poor cassette condition Appearances: Focal fog, High density Corrective Action: Replace cassette, Check the cassette condition, QC Test

IMPROPER GRID POSITION Causes: Upside down, wrongly selected grid ratio and types Appearances: Underexposed (Low Density) Corrective Action: Check the label; and ratio, Ensure the grid is positioned properly

RADIOPAQUE MATERIALS Causes: Post-operation (Plating etc.), Jewelries, Watches, Metallic objects Appearances: Radiopacity, White (Bright), Obstructing ROI Corrective Action: Remove all radiopaque materials, Double check

Emulsion pick-off Causes: Occurs when emulsion is “picked off” or removed from the emulsion of film base. May be a result of two images stuck together before or during processing and pulled apart or glutaraldehyde failure. Appearances: small, irregular, dark spots or lines Corrective Action: Ensure that the film processing conditions, including chemicals, temperatures, and processing time, adhere to recommended standards.

Guide-shoe marks Causes: made by jagged edges of the guide shoes because they are bent, worn, damaged, incorrectly adjusted and run parallel to the direction the film travels. Also occurs with improperly seated transport racks or rollers. Appearances: dark or light lines or streaks Corrective Action: Regularly inspect and clean guide shoes on the automatic film processing equipment

Pi Lines Causes: Occur at 3.1416-inches () intervals because of dirt or a chemical stain on a roller, since the rollers are 1 inch diameter, 3.1415 inches represent one revolution of a roller Appearances: Will appear and regular intervals perpendicular the direction of the film travel. Corrective Action: Correct Grid Ratio, Grid alignment, Grid cleanliness

Dichroic Stain Causes: 1) Improper or inadequate chemistry term generally applied to all chemical stain, dichroic means Two colors, chemical; stains seen on a radiograph can appear yellow, green, blue or purple, 2) Caused by continued development in the fixer, never occur in automatic processor Appearances: The presence of brown or green stains. Brown indicates oxidized developer or hyporetention from several years of storage. Green indicates presence of unexposed and underdeveloped silver halide crystals reaming on film after processing and is caused by incomplete fixation Corrective Action: Implement a regular schedule for changing and replenishing processing solutions

Curtain Effect Cause: Improper or inadequate chemistry, in slow processors the chemistry may not be squeezed from the film, either runs down the leading edge of the film or runs up the trailing edge Appearances: When solution drips on or “running down” a film forming pattern that resemble a lace curtain. Can also occur if wash water is dirty Corrective Action:

Wet-pressure sensitization Causes: Produced in the developer rank, irregular or dirty rollers will cause pressure during development and produce small circular patterns of increased density Appearances: When the entrance rollers (made of soft rubber) or the film become wet before the film is introduced, the combination of the pressure and the water marks forms a series of dark stripes that math the grooves on the rollers Corrective Action: Establish a routine schedule for changing and replenishing processing solutions.

Streaking Cause: Failure of agitation, improper circulation system of automatic processing Appearances: Uneven solution, High temperature causing excessive expansion and contraction of film emulsion during processing Corrective Action: Maintain the correct concentration of processing chemicals and replace them accordingly.

Reticulation marks Cause: Uneven solution, High temperature causing excessive expansion and contraction of film emulsion during processing Appearance: Network of fine grooves in the film surface Corrective Action: Ensure consistent and controlled temperature during the entire film processing cycle.

Light Fog Cause: white leaks and improper safelight filters or intensities appearances: subtle, overall gray haze Corrective Action: Ensure that the darkroom has proper light-tight conditions; use appropriate safe lights

Radiation Fog Cause: xray exposed (ex. Leaving cassette in the examination room) Appearances: localized, dense area of increased film density Corrective Action: Ensure proper collimation of the X-ray beam to focus radiation only on the area of interest

Static Cause: caused by the build-up electrons in the emulsion and is the most noticeable during extremely low humidity (Smudge); Static electricity by friction (tree & Crown) Three distinct patterns of static: crown, tree and smudge. appearances: irregular, thin, or thick lines corrective action: Maintain appropriate humidity levels in the imaging environment. Regularly clean cassettes and film screens to remove accumulated dust or debris.

Kink marks Cause: caused by fingernail, or abrupt bending of film Appearances: localized, dark, or light lines Corrective Action: Handle films with care to avoid folding or bending.

Hyporetention stain Cause: caused by the residual thiosulfate which still remains during washing and the slowly buildup of the silver sulfide Appearances: irregular, dark areas Corrective Action: Ensure thorough rinsing of films after development to remove residual developer solution.

Fingerprints Causes: Black: Developer on fingertips; White: Oil or Fixer on fingertips blocks developer Corrective action: Keep fingers dry and clean; Touch only film edges Appearances: smudges or marks Corrective Action: Practice thorough hand hygiene before handling films. Hold films by the edges to minimize contact with the emulsion side.