You have discussed Eagle's Syndrome, I have been diagnosed with Hyoid
Bone Syndrome. I still am not positive of the diagnosis. I have had
cronic face pain for about 13 years. I have had two teeth extracted and
the pain is still there. TMJ has been ruled out, as well as sinus
problems. The pain starts underneath the jaw bone, mid way acrossed the
neck and radiates back behind my ear and up to my forehead. The pain is
activated by bending my head foreward or backwards or by driving in a
car. I have surgery schedule to snip the hyoid bone. I would
appreciate any information or advice you may have.
Worried
Reply: ----------------------
Quite frankly I have never heard of such a syndrome. I also have not been able to find a citation for such a syndrome in any of my office references nor any references in medical sites on the internet. This is not to say that such a syndrome has not been described - I would have to do a more thorough computer literature search - but I have not found any discussion of such a syndrome in articles that I have readily available which cover the topic of head and neck pain syndromes.
Difficulty swallowing or pain on swallowing would be an expected symptom caused by hyoid problems. In fact such symptoms have been described following fracture of the hyoid bone. I would be curious to know what the suspected mechanism would be for neuralgia caused by the hyoid bone. The closest nerve to the hyoid is the hypoglossal n. which is a motor nerve supplying function to the tongue muscles, but is not a sensory nerve and therefore would not likely be a source of neuralgic pain. I would certainly recommend consideration of a second opinion, perhaps by an ENT specialist in an academic center (eg area medical school).
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Steve Dankle, MD
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
Milwaukee, Wis
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