Non Surgical Treatment of Eagle's Syndrome: A Case Report

Eagle's syndrome is a disease without a clear lesion that is associated with repeated episodes of pharyngalgia, odynophagia, the sensation of a foreign body in the pharynx, tinnitus, and otalgia in which patients displaying these types of symptoms must be given a differential diagnosis. It is known to be characterized by styloid process elongation or increasing compression to adjacent anatomical structures through stylohyoid ligament calcification. In serious cases, continuous pressure to the carotid artery can lead to a stroke. Diagnosis is confirmed through clinical symptoms, radiological findings, and physical examinations. The most common type of treatment consists of a surgical excision of elongated styloid process. Nonetheless, this study presents a case of treating Eagle's syndrome with conservative management.

A patient with Eagle syndrome: Radiological and scintigraphic evaluation.

A 42-year-old man who had been having otalgia and facial and neck pain for 6 months presented for a routine dental examination. He had suffered two head traumas, the first 20 years ago and the second 4 years ago. A panoramic radiograph (PR) was taken as a screening film after the clinical examination. Bilateral styloid process elongation (SPE) was detected, and the patient was diagnosed as having Eagle syndrome. The styloid process (SP) length was 78 mm on the right and 74 mm on the left on multislice computed tomography (MSCT). Bone scan of the cranium showed normal uptake of radiotracer in the cranial bones and some little activity was detected as a silhouette in the localization of SPE in planar and SPECT images. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case investigating SPE by bone scintigraphy in a patient with Eagle syndrome.