Retrospective motion correction in digital subtraction angiography: a review

Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is a well-established modality for the visualization of blood vessels in the human body. A serious disadvantage of this technique, inherent to the subtraction operation, is its sensitivity to patient motion. The resulting artifacts frequently reduce the diagnostic value of the images. Over the past two decades, many solutions to this problem have been put forward. In this paper, the authors give an overview of the possible types of motion artifacts and the techniques that have been proposed to avoid them. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed review and discussion of retrospective motion correction techniques that have been described in the literature, to summarize the conclusions that can be drawn from these studies, and to provide suggestions for future research.