Dense artery sign
Medical condition / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In medicine, the dense artery sign or hyperdense artery sign is an increased radiodensity of an artery as seen on computer tomography (CT) scans, and is a radiologic sign of early ischemic stroke.[1] In earlier studies of medical imaging in patients with strokes, it was the earliest sign of ischemic stroke in a significant minority of cases.[2] Its appearance portends a poor prognosis for the patient.[3][4]
Dense artery sign | |
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CT scan without intravenous contrast showing hyperdense aspect of the right middle cerebral artery, indicating thrombus within the vessel | |
Differential diagnosis | ischemic stroke |
The sign has been observed in the middle cerebral artery (MCA),[4] posterior cerebral artery (PCA),[5] vertebral artery,[2] and basilar artery;[6] these have been called the dense MCA sign, dense PCA sign, dense vertebral artery sign, and dense basilar artery sign, respectively.
Rarely, a hypodense artery sign can occur due to fat embolism.[7]