Eagle Syndrome: Pathophysiology, Differential Diagnosis and   Treatment Options

Daniel Swanson; Cole H. Evensky; Shadman Yusuf; Hannah Long; Jamal Hasoon; Mustafa Mohamed; Bruce M. Dixon; Tomasina Parker-Actlis; Michael A. Alvarado; Jaehong Song; Adam M. Kaye; Giustino Varrassi; Alan D. Kaye; Latha Ganti

doi:10.52965/​001c.67851

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Eagle Syndrome: Pathophysiology, Differential Diagnosis and Treatment Options

Daniel Swanson¹, Cole H. Evensky², Shadman Yusuf², Hannah Long², Jamal Hasoon³, Mustafa Mohamed⁴, Bruce M. Dixon⁵, Tomasina Parker-Actlis⁵, Michael A. Alvarado⁵, Jaehong Song^1*, Adam M. Kaye⁷, Giustino Varrassi⁶, Alan D. Kaye⁵, Latha Ganti⁴

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¹ Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC

² LSU School of Medicine, Shreveport, LA

³ Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA

⁴ Department of Neurology, HCA Florida Osceola Hospital & University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando Orlando, FL

⁵ Department of Anesthesiology, Louisiana State University Shreveport, Shreveport, LA

⁶ Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

⁷ Department of Pharmacy Practice, Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA

HPR 2022 , 10(5), 1; https://doi.org/10.52965/001c.67851

Published: 20 February 2023

© 2022 by the Author(s). Licensee Health Psychology Research, USA. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )

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Abstract

The present investigation summarizes relevant symptoms, differential diagnosis, imaging, and treatment options of Eagle Syndrome. A comprehensive literature review of peer-reviewed literature was employed utilizing most relevant databases. The diagnoses of Eagle Syndrome have recently increased because of increased awareness of physicians of Eagle Syndrome and the earlier identification of the cardinal symptoms of the disease. The most important symptoms are dysphagia in the setting of cervical neck pain, but there is a wide variety of symptomatology that make Eagle Syndrome a challenge to recognize and diagnose clinically. CT scan continues to be the standard of care for diagnosing Eagle Syndrome and CT Angiography has an important role in aiding diagnosis as well. Medical treatment options include steroids, antidepressants, and anticonvulsants however not all cases of Eagle Syndrome can be managed medically. Surgical approaches are varied but typically are either extraoral or transoral. This report aims to update providers on the important diagnostic criteria of Eagle Syndrome and how physicians can develop a treatment plan that addresses all the symptoms of patients with Eagle Syndrome because it can be treated safely and appropriately.

Keywords

Eagle Syndrome

elongated styloid process

stylocarotid artery syndrome

pain

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Conflict of interest

The authors did not receive any funding or financial support or potential sources of conflict of interests.

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