A severe sore throat in a middle-aged man: calcific tendonitis of the longus colli tendon.

BACKGROUND

Neck pain is a common presentation to the Emergency Department (ED), requiring appropriate evaluation to exclude serious pathology.

OBJECTIVES

To review an atypical clinical presentation of neck pain and to distinguish this case and its associated radiographic features from more common clinical entities.

CASE REPORT: We present an ED case of calcific tendonitis of the longus coli muscle.

SUMMARY: Acute calcific retropharyngeal tendinitis is a rare, benign etiology of non-traumatic neck pain that is poorly recognized and often mistaken for other conditions secondary to infection or trauma. The importance of this disorder, as well as a review of the literature on the subject, is presented.