Elongated Styloid Process and Eagle's Syndrome

Abstract

A controversial entity, Eagle's syndrome, is reviewed. After an anatomical description of the maxillo-vertebro-pharyngeal region we summarize the causative, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of the syndrome. Two different conditions are often reported as Eagle's syndrome: one characterized by dysphagia and unilateral pharyngeal pain radiating to the ear and worsened by swallowing; the other characterized by pain in the head and neck region due to compression of the neurovascular structure by an elongated styloid process. The latter also includes typical cranial neuralgias (such as glossopharyngeal neuralgia) and carotidynia. We believe that the term "Eagle's syndrome" is legitimate only in the first case and in those "atypical" painful head and neck conditions related to an elongated styloid process and relieved by styloidectomy. We believe Eagle's syndrome deserves consideration in the International Headache Classification.

The Origin of the Variations of the Hyoid Apparatus in Human

“…Steinman (1970) believed the calcification occurs prenatally. Montalbetti et al (1995) termed it "regressive ontogenetic development". Currently, the calcification theory of the stylohyoid ligament seems to be accepted for pathogenesis of several syndromes associated with the so-called stylohyoid chain (Ferrario et al, 1990;MacDonald-Jankowski, 2001;Alpoz et al, 2014).…”

Eagle’s Syndrome: Report of Three Cases

“…Mansour and Young [7] concluded that the diagnosis of an elongated styloid process could be made whenever the styloid process was longer than 40 mm. In radiological studies, the normal length of styloid process is reported to be no longer than 25 mm [8]. In our cases, all the styloid process were more than 40 mm.…”

Estudo clínico e radiográfico dos aspectos morfológicos da cadeia estilo-hióidea em sujeitos com disfunção temporomandibular e dor orofacial

“…Alguns autores consideram 25mm o comprimento médio de um processo estilóide normal e afirmam que a partir deste comprimento o processo estilóide é considerado alongado (GOSSMAN; TARSITANO, 1977;CORREL et al, 1979;LANGLAIS et al, 1986;MONTALBETTI, 1995). Já o comprimento radiográfico do processo estilóide tem sido reportado entre 20 à 30mm (DONOHUE, 1959;HOLLINSHEAD, 1962;KAUFMAN, 1970;GRAY, 1977), sendo geralmente considerado como comprimento limite, para processos estilóides normais, o valor de 30mm (PALESY et al, 2000;ZINNUROGLU et al, 2008).…”

“…No adulto, uma zona de cartilagem persistente pode ficar retida, apresentando potencial de crescimento e maturação óssea tardia (FROMMER, 1974;KEUR et al 1986;KAWAI et al 1990;MONTALBETTI et al 1995). O ligamento estilo-hióideo, que é normalmente composto de tecido fibroso denso, também pode reter um pouco dessa cartilagem embrionária e ter o potencial de tornar-se parcialmente ou completamente ossificado (MONSOUR;YOUNG, 1986 HOLLINSHEAD, 1962;STAFNE, 1969).…”

“…Apesar das radiografias mais utilizadas para a visualização do processo estilóide ossificado serem as panorâmicas (RIZZATTI-BARBOSA et al, 2005;MONTALBETTI et al, 1995), muitos estudos preconizam o uso das cefalométricas, a póstero-anterior, a lateral oblíqua de mandíbula e de Towne (MORAES et al, 1991;FINI et al, 2000;NICKEL et al, 2003;BEDER et al, 2005;ROSA et al 2008). A Tomografia Computadorizada 3D (3D-TC) é considerada o padrão-ouro em diagnóstico radiológico (NAYAK et al, 2007).…”