Clothing artifact

Clothing artifacts, like jewelry artifacts, are a regular feature on imaging examinations, especially plain radiographs, but in general are recognized for what they are, either at the time the image is taken by the radiographer, or later by the reporting radiologist. The radiographer will often either retake the image after the patient has removed the offending garment, or more commonly they will label the image with a warning that clothing artifact is present to avoid any misinterpretation taking place.

Removing clothing that corresponds to the area of interest is important, in particular digital image receptors are able to pick up even the stencils on t-shirts due to a higher detective quantum efficiency compared to that of film. In the literature are good examples of cases in which clothing has mimicked potentially more serious pathology .

Conversely, at least in mammography, it has been found that women keeping their brassieres on improves dose-reduction techniques. The same study also showed that the metal components of patients' bras did not have any adverse effect with regards to diagnostic accuracy .