Elongation of the Styloid Process – Eagle Syndrome – Case Reports of Patients on Dialysis

Eagle syndrome or syndrome of the prolonged styloid process of the temporal bone is a rare syndrome, whose cause is an extended styloid process and often concomitant with an ossification of stylohyoid ligaments. A patient typically reports to a doctor because of sudden severe pain in his ear, throat, floor of the mouth, the oral side of the neck or jaw angle around the tonsillar fossa. This pain occurs when you open your mouth, turn the head or swallow. Additional symptoms which are coexisting may be drooling, dysphagia, odynophagia, trismus, sensation of something in the throat. Pain symptoms occur suddenly and last from a few seconds to several minutes. The method of treatment for Eagle Syndrome can be twofold and depends on the presented type of Eagle Syndrome. Nonsurgical treatment methods, such as injecting the tonsillar fossa after the palatal tonsil with local anesthetic agents and steroids, are used in the classic type. Unfortunately, in most cases, the results are not satisfactory. Two patients recently came to the clinic presenting the above-mentioned symptoms of varying severity. Panoramic radiographs and CBCT revealed much elongated styloid processes (Dent. Med. Probl. 2015, 52, 3, 366–370).