Hyperdense basilar artery as a CT sign of basilar artery thrombosis

With growing acceptance of systemic and local thrombolysis as a novel treatment for stroke patients, early detection of cerebral ischemia or infarction has become a priority task in initial clinical examination, with CT being the method of primary significance in this context, as most of the patients first of all are examined by CT in the acute post-stroke phase, and the thrombolytic therapy is applicable within a time window of a only a few hours. The case report describes the diagnostic procedure adopted in response to neurological findings and CT results showing a hyperdense basilar artery, so that thrombosis of the basilar artery was suspected. A local intraarterial fibrinolysis (LIF) was performed immediately, and the thrombosis could be removed successfully. (orig./CB)