Retropharyngeal tendinitis.
A rare clinical syndrome, with acute onset of severe pains localized in the back of the neck and aggravated by head movements and swallowing, has been studied in 28 patients. X-ray examinations of the cervical spine and prevertebral soft tissues in straight lateral projection of all patients in the acute phase showed significant soft-tissue swelling anterior to the vertebral bodies of C1-C4. Eighteen patients had an amorphous calcific deposit below the tuberculum anterius atlantis in or near the mid-line. The clinical symptoms were characteristic, with a benign course and freedom from complaints and regression of the radiological changes after 1-2 weeks. The diagnosis was usually made clinically and confirmed after two or more X-ray examinations of the cervical spine and the prevertebral soft tissues. The disease was in all probability caused by acute tendinitis in the longus colli musculus.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009132:Muscles; D009333:Neck / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009334:Neck Muscles; D010614:Pharynx; D011859:Radiography; D052256:Tendinopathy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging