Eagle's Syndrome: Embryology Anatomy and Clinical Management

Department

neurosurgery

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Background Eagle's syndrome refers to a rare constellation of neuropathic and vascular occlusive symptoms caused by pathologic elongation or angulation of the styloid process and styloid chain. First described in 1652 by Italian surgeon Piertro Marchetti, the clinical syndrome was definitively outlined by Watt Eagle in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Methods This article reviews how underlying embryologic and anatomic pathology predicts clinical symptomatology, diagnosis, and ultimately treatment of the syndrome. Results The length and direction of the styloid process and styloid chain are highly variable. This variability leads to a wide range of relationships between the chain and the neurovascular elements of the neck, including cranial nerves 5, 7, 9, and 10 and the internal carotid artery. In the classic type of Eagle's syndrome, compressive cranial neuropathy most commonly leads to the sensation of a foreign body in the throat, odynophagia, and dysphagia. In the carotid type, compression over the internal carotid artery can cause pain in the parietal region of the skull or in the superior periorbital region, among other symptoms. Conclusions Careful recording of the history of the present illness and review of systems is crucial to the diagnosis of Eagle's syndrome. After the clinical examination, the optimal imaging modality for styloid process pathology is spiral CTof the neck and skull base. Surgical interventions are considered only after noninvasive therapies have failed, the two most common being intraoral and external resection of the styloid process. © Springer-Verlag 2012.

Publication Date

2012

Publication Title

Acta Neurochirurgica

ISSN

0001-6268

Volume

154

Issue

7

First Page

1119

Last Page

1126

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1007/s00701-012-1385-2

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