Animal and animal produce inspired signs
Dr MT Niknejad and Dr Frank Gaillard et al.
Animal and animal produce inspired signs may sound a little silly, but in my defence I didn't make these up. The radiology literature is replete with signs, some more fanciful than others.
Fish and seafood
- fish vertebra (also known as codfish vertebra) : biconcave vertebrae as seen in osteoporosis
- fishtail deformity of the elbow : due to abnormal trochlear ossification following a distal humeral fracture in childhood
- vertebral scalloping : may be anterior or posterior border
- endosteal scalloping : medullary cavity masses, e.g multiple myeloma
- lobster claw sign: of papillary necrosis
Poultry and fowl
- eggshell calcification : silicosis and occasionally sarcoidosis
- swan neck deformity : of rheumatoid arthritis
- bird-beak sign : achalasia (also known as rat tail sign)
- beak sign : of arterial dissection
- beak sign of sigmoid volvulus
- gull wing appearance: erosive osteoarthritis
Domesticated and wild animals
- bull's eye : many of these
- staghorn calculus : struvite renal calculi
- feline oesophagus : horizontal striations seen on barium swallows as a variant of normal.
- eye of tiger sign: classical of Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome
- pleural mouse
-
panda sign
- of the midbrain : Wilson disease
- of sarcoidosis
- bear's paw sign : xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis
- scotty dog sign
- hidebound sign : gastrointestinal scleroderma
- dural tail : of meningioma - don't know tail of which animal though
- rat tail sign : achalasia (also known as bird-beak sign)
- rat bite erosions of gout
- bat's wing: pulmonary opacities and 4th ventricle (Joubert anomaly and related syndromes)
- anteater nose sign: calcaneonavicular coalition
Insects and bugs
- butterfly glioma : nothing "oooh... isn't it pretty" about this one
- butterfly shape of the grey matter of the spinal cord
- butterfly fracture
Reptiles
Mythical creatures
- cyclops lesion : usually post ACL repair
- medusa head : of a developmental venous anomaly (DVA)
Processed animal product containing foods
- cervical hamburger sign : normal cervical facet joints on axial CT
- honeycomb lung : UIP / pulmonary fibrosis
- mesenteric hamburger sign : mesenteric lymph node enlargement
- omental cake : metastases to omentum - I don't think anyone actually makes cake out of omentum.
- sausage digit : underlying inflammatory arthritis or dactylitis
- head cheese sign : hypersensitivity pneumonitis
- leather bottle stomach : of linitis plastica (aka water bottle sign)

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