title: Eagle's syndrome diagnosed after history of headache, dysphagia, otalgia, and limited neck movement.
abstract: All clinicians responsible for diagnosing and treating diseases of the head and neck should be familiar with the possible clinical manifestations of a mineralized stylohyoid or stylomandibular ligament. Many patients with Eagle's syndrome have been misdiagnosed as having neuralgias, TMJ problems, psychosomatic disorders, or other vague, ill-defined diseases of the head and neck. Unfortunately , patients have been treated for these conditions with negative results. Extraction of teeth, especially third molars, has been performed unnecessarily in an attempt to alleviate the symptoms caused by a mineralized stylohyoid or stylomandibular ligament. Patients complaining of vague facial pain (especially when swallowing, turning the head or opening the mouth), dysphagia, otalgia, and headache with dizziness and with radiographic evidence of mineralization in the stylohyoid-stylomandibular ligament complex may have Eagle's syndrome. If digital palpation of the tonsillar fossa on the affected side causes the typical pain that the patient has been experiencing and if the mineralized abnormality can be felt in the fossa, the patient is considered to have the syndrome, and surgical resection of the abnormality should be considered.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D013701:Temporal Bone / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000601:surgery; D013706:Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis