Eagle’s Syndrome: Transoral Styloidectomy a Technique Modification Case Report

Abstract

Eagle’s Syndrome is a rare condition with unknown etiology that mainly affects female patients between the third and sixth decade of life. It was first described in 1937 by Dr. Watt W. Eagle, in a study carried out in a group of patients whose main symptom was cervicopharyngeal pain caused by elongation of the styloid process and/or calcification of the stylohyoid ligament [1]. The diagnosis of this pathology is based on the anamnesis and physical examination together with imaging exams of the patients. Cervicofacial pain, palpation of the styloid process in the tonsillar fossa and limitation in neck mobility are the most classic signs and symptoms of this disease [2]. Due to the nonspecific symptoms present in these patients, this disease is usually underdiagnosed and confused with temporomandibular disorders, cervical myalgias, and even being diagnosed as atypical trigeminal neuralgias [3]. For this reason, clinical examination and imaging exams, are indispensable for the correct diagnosis and evaluation of anatomical structures [3]. We present a case of a woman with a history of eagle syndrome which was diagnosed and treated at the Hospital clinico metropolitano El Carmen Santiago, Chile.