[Calcified stylo-hyoid ligament. Its role in the diagnosis of laterocervical pain].

The calcification of the stylo-hyoid ligament is very often accidentally discovered during a panorex examination. Sometimes it is responsible of lateral and cervical pain spreading to the oral cavity and the maxilla. This anatomic landmark results in man from the more or less complete ossification of the hyo-branchial system due to the persistence of the Reichert cartilage. The anatomical environment of the ossified stylo-hyoid ligament is very rich in thick blood vessels and cranial nerves and can lead after compression or irritation to: vascular pain of the external carotid artery, recurrent syncopes by irritation of the carotid sinus, pain in the tonsils, phonation and swallowing troubles, referred pain in the temporo-mandibular joints. The standard clinical and radiographic examination will help to establish the differential diagnosis. The treatment is either non surgical, by cutaneous infiltration of local anesthetic or surgical, by the removal through the oral cavity of the calcified stylo-hyoid ligament.