What type of artifact is most commonly caused by patient motion during mammography?

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Motion during the exposure produces motion blur, which is the most common artifact when a patient moves during mammography. When the X-ray beam records anatomy while it’s shifting, the structures smear across the image instead of appearing with sharp, well-defined edges. This loss of sharpness reduces detail like the borders of masses and the appearance of microcalcifications, making detection and characterization more difficult. To minimize this, techniques such as good compression, secure positioning, clear patient instructions to stay still, and shorter exposure times are used. By contrast, grid misalignment shows up as grid-line patterns, quantum mottle appears as graininess from too few photons, and reconstruction artifacts stem from processing in tomosynthesis or 3D imaging rather than from motion during a single projection.