Abstract
Background
Although there is preserved information about the mention of the stylohyoid ligament as early as 1652 by the Italian anatomist Pietro Marchetti, the discoverer of Eagle syndrome is considered to be the ENT specialist Watt Eagle from one of the most prestigious universities - Duke University, who in 1937 first described it as a separate nosological entity, examining patients with pain in the head and neck region.
Materials and methods
This article is an overview and it is based on the analysis of 31 other articles by foreign authors published in world-renowned and refereed scientific publications.
Discussion
Eagle syndrome is a disease that is a prolongation of the styloid process and/or impingement of the stylohyoid ligament connecting the styloid process of the temporal bone and the lesser horn of the hyoid bone. The reasons for this, according to Watt Eagle, are surgical trauma (most often tonsillectomy) or other local chronic irritation of the tissues and organs in the space around the styloid process, causing osteitis, periosteitis and tendinitis of the same and/or the stylohyoid ligament.
There are two varieties of the syndrome - classic, in which the symptomatology is due to the compression of the adjacent styloid process nerves, and type of the carotid artery, in which the clinical manifestation is due to the compression of the latter.
Its treatment can be both - conservative and surgical. The latter can be carried out by intraoral or extraoral access.
Conclusion
Eagle syndrome is one of the diseases of the head and neck with the most diverse and extensive symptoms, and very often its diagnosis is a great difficulty even for an experienced clinician, and its treatment requires a complex approach and professionalism on the part of treating medical doctors.
Keywords
- – Eagle syndrome
- head and neck surgery
- maxillofacial surgery
- neuralgia
- throat and neck pain