title: Carotidynia: new aspects of a controversial entity.
abstract: Idiopathic carotidynia or Fay syndrome is a little known pathology, which in the past was the subject of much controversy. Even though carotydinia was removed as a pathological entity from the second International Headache Society classification in 2004, recent reports seem to confirm that the disease demonstrates unusual radiological findings. The presence of a typical amorphous enhancing soft tissue surrounding the carotid artery by MRI, CT and ultrasonography in patients with carotidynia has reopened discussion on the hypothesis that carotidynia may represent a distinctive inflammatory process. The aetiology of carotidynia is unknown. We report a case of carotidynia that developed after an upper airway infection, wherein MR studies demonstrated typical enhanced tissue surrounding the common carotid artery in contiguity with pathological enhancement in laryngeal tissue.
authors.affiliation: Otolaryngology and Otosurgery Unit, University Hospital of Padova, Italy. comacchio.francesco@alice.it
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Comacchio
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bottin
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brescia
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsilikas
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Volo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tregnaghi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martini
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D017536:Carotid Artery, Common; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000209:etiology*; D013577:Syndrome
keywords: Airways infection; Carotidynia; Doppler ultrasonography; MRI