Dense artery sign
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| Dense artery sign | |
|---|---|
 | |
| CT scan without intravenous contrast showing hyperdense aspect of the right middle cerebral artery, indicating thrombus within the vessel | |
| Differential diagnosis | ischemic stroke |
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]
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]