Cervicofacial pain associated with Eagle's syndrome misdiagnosed as trigeminal neuralgia.

BACKGROUND

Eagle's syndrome is characterized by the symptoms of recurrent throat pain, pharyngeal foreign body sensation, dysphagia, referred otalgia, and neck pain. The treatment for Eagle's syndrome can be pharmacologically, surgically, or both. The surgical management consists of two major procedures: the transoral approach or the extraoral-cervical approach.

CASE REPORT: A 64-year-old patient with a severe cervical pain on the left side was evaluated with no defined diagnosis. During physical examination, an elongated styloid process could be palpated and with CT scan image, the Eagle's syndrome diagnosis was done. The patient was successfully submitted to surgical resection of the elongated styloid process on the left side by an extraoral-cervical approach. After 6 months follow-up, the patient referred no symptom after the surgical treatment.

CONCLUSION

The extraoral/cervical approach is a safe alternative that achieves adequate treatment of Eagle's syndrome.