A Rare Cause for Cervical Pain: Eagle's Syndrome

Patients with pharyngodynia and neck pain symptoms can lead to an extensive differential diagnosis. Eagle's syndrome must be taken in account. Eagle defined "stylalgia" as an autonomous entity related to abnormal length of the styloid process or to mineralization of the stylohyoid ligament complex. The stylohyoid complex derives from Reichert's cartilage of the second branchial arch. The styloyd process is an elongated conical projection of the temporal bone that lies anteriorly to the mastoid process. The incidence of Eagle's syndrome varies among population. Usually asymptomatic, it occurs in adult patients. It is characterized by pharyngodynia localized in the tonsillar fossa and sometimes accompanied by disphagia, odynophagia, foreign body sensation, and temporary voice changes. In some cases, the stylohyoid apparatus compresses the internal and/or the external carotid arteries and their perivascular sympathetic fibers, resulting in a persistent pain irradiating in the carotid territory. The pathogenesis of the syndrome is still under discussion.