Eagle syndrome: an incidental finding in a trauma patient: a case report.

BACKGROUND

Eagle syndrome is a rare condition characterized by an elongated styloid process that occasionally irritates or disrupts adjacent anatomical structures. Although this is well known in the literature, it is rarely on the forefront of the clinician's mind. In the trauma patient, awareness of Eagle syndrome and knowledge of the anatomy associated with it may help differentiate symptoms secondary to acute injury from the chronic symptoms of this syndrome.

OBJECTIVES

To review the diagnostic and treatment modalities related to Eagle syndrome and its associated anatomical structures germane to the trauma patient.

CASE REPORT: A 42-year-old African American man presented with neck, face, head, and back pain after being assaulted. The patient noted that he had a long history of foreign body sensation on the right side of his neck with occasional difficulty swallowing. On physical examination, the patient was found to have a solitary, 1-cm laceration in the left parietal scalp. The physical examination was unremarkable other than scalp hematoma and laceration. Computed tomography scans of the head, face, and cervical spine were negative for acute injury other than a small scalp hematoma, and a markedly enlarged right styloid process, measuring approximately 8 cm, with ossification of the stylohyoid ligament to the level of the hyoid bone.

CONCLUSION

In the trauma patient, awareness of Eagle syndrome and knowledge of the anatomy associated with it may help differentiate symptoms secondary to acute injury from the chronic symptoms of this syndrome.