ES Information- Can Children have ES?
Disclaimer: These answers to common questions were put together for new members to gain a head start in finding information about Eagle Syndrome; to give you confidence to discuss issues with your medical team and to encourage you to research issues further for yourselves. It was compiled by a volunteer Moderator, who does not claim to be a medical professional, merely an informed observer and patient! The sources used are personal experiences, LivingWithTheEagle members’ experiences, and research from professional publications (some of the articles can’t be read fully unless subscribed to). Many thanks to heidemt for her research and contribution, and for her example of being your own advocate and not giving up. Members are encouraged to seek medical opinion and these pages are not intended to replace that. Members are also encouraged to research more for themselves- there is more research available but with the limitation of time and neck pain, this was the best that I could do! Past discussions are useful sources of info as well; search whatever the subject is, and you’ll often find someone who’s been through it too!
Thanks to EarMom for her research; her son was able to get a diagnosis and surgery for ES after she found evidence for ES in children (and heidemt found evidence for styloid length which helped his case) and was able to convince doctors to see him. Most of this research is available on the ‘Research and Face Pain Info’ section under the Newbies Guide To ES category.
This is her website, and her son’s story (more research into ES in children and the paper about her son’s surgery) will be published soon: www.sherrijonas.com
Other info on this includes the story of a 5 year old girl who was found to have a calcified stylohyoid ligament causing a foreign body sensation in her throat: Radiologic Case of the Month.pdf Radiological Case of the Month by Michele K. Holloway, MD; Suman Wason, MD, MBA; J. Paul Willging, MD; Charles M. Myer III, MD (Contributors); Beverly P. Wood, MD (Section Editor).
150 panoramic radiographs were examined at the Department of Pedodontics of St. Justine’s Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A total of 300 styloid processes and stylohyoid chains were evaluated and measured radiographically. The patients’ mean age was 11 years (age range 0-25 years). The mean length of the styloid processes was 10 mm.
The patients didn’t have symptoms; doctors were looking to see if the occurrence of elongated styloids was the same as in the general population. 40.7% of the population studied did have radiographic evidence of a significant ossification of a part or all of the stylohyoid ligament.
Because 65.6% of the patients with such ossification related no history of cervicopharyngeal trauma whatsoever, they concluded that such ossification is most probably and usually an anatomic developmental anomaly. The mean length of the 300 styloid processes measured was 10 mm- as the mean length of SP’s in adults is 25mm, it appears as if styloids do grow with age, although this is the opposite of what these researches concluded- ‘well within the acceptable “normal” length of at most 25 mm.’
The mean length of 10mm in children is worth quoting if doctors use the adult standard mean length of 25mm to compare it to, and don’t treat a child because it is within the ‘acceptable’ normal length. (Stylohyoid chain ossification: A discussion of etiology by A.J. Camarda, C. Deschamps, and D. Forest, 1989)
In the study STYLALGIA AND ITS SURGICAL MANAGEMENT BY INTRA ORAL ROUTE -CLINICAL EXPERIENCE OF 332 CASES by Y. K. Maru, Kusum Patidar, two 15 year old patients had their elongated styloid processes removed.
Eagle’s syndrome is mentioned in the book: Guideline on Acquired Temporomandibular Disorders in Infants, Children, and Adolescents. www.aapd.org/media/policies_guidelines/g_tmd.pdf )
Wikipedia states that cases have been recorded in teenagers, but no source is mentioned for that. And this site shows a picture of a baby’s skull with a styloid process: http://www.innerbody.com/image/skel01.html