Results from CT-scan and internal jugular veine is expended. I appreciate your views!

General
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Last Thursday I met the new ENT-doctor at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. She was nice but knew nothing about the Eagles syndrome.
I got a copy of what the radiologist wrote about my CT scan in April. I'll try to translate despite my bad English ...

  • CT skull base and neck with intravenous contrast.
  • Interfering metal parts of the mouth (I have gold teeth wisdom tooth and some fillings in amalgam ..) partially hampered the assessment of oral cavity and oropharynx.
  • Processus styloideus are about 3 cm in length bilaterally.
  • The right processus styloideus located with the tip approximately 5 mm lateral to the oropharynx. The left abuts the orofarynxwall in level with the tonsils.
  • Hypertrophic lymphoid tissue in the base of the tongue with symmetrical appearance.
  • No tumorsuspekta changes in the uncertain parts of the oral cavity.
  • Trigone areas difficult to assess because of the metal parts of the mouth.
  • Greatly expanded internal jugular vein on the right side.
  • The left internal jugular vein is narrow in the lower part of the neck and can not be assessed in the upper part of the neck.
  • In the right maxillary sinus finnns a 2cm large cystic change looks like a retention cyst.

The new doctor is going to send me to a swallowing test where I'll swallow different types of food while watching a fiberendoskop on swallowing.


My other problems in the mouth and throat have not been investigated.


The doctor thinks there are "too many" problems and will now only take care of one thing ... my swollowing problems...


I'm heartbroken, because I am in pain and over the past month i got more bumps in the hard palate and my retention cyst has grown quite a bit since April. You can not see it with the naked eye because it is located in the sinus maxllaris and press on the roof of the palate but I can feel a big bump on the palate. I now have a lot of pain in the back of my tongue (my left). It feels like I have a knife in there!? And the pain in the left side of my tongue .. Sore in a small place in the larynx .. a little to the right of it. I can not explain the pain, a great discomfort and pain when I touch the area with your fingers.

So..does anyone know anything about hypertrophic tissue in the base of the tongue? I think it affects my swollowing as well and I feel something "there" and it is hard to breathe because of the tissue.

The expanded internal jugular vein scares me. Can I get a stroke or bleed to death if it cracks?

I appreciate your views!

P.S, In two days I'll have a gastroskopy. Can the styloideus in my tonsill area (the one that abuts the oropharynx wall) cause problems?

The doc found swollen tissue in my throat above the adam's apple on two places.. She said it could be related to acid reflux (Gerd). Is there a connection between Gerd and Eagles? I also have a lot of stomach ache. That is why I will have both a gastroskopy and a coloskopy on monday.

Regards Alexandra

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Your IJV is kind of stretchy...It can expand with more bloodflow, so I think that might be what they are saying there. It's like a thick rubbery straw..if you pinch it, the part with fluid will stretch out a little. It would take a lot to tear it, I think- like trauma, and since it is a vein, the blood that flows through there is not high pressure blood. High pressure blood goes through the carotid artery in that area- a separate deal.

My IJV cannot be seen, also, so I'm in the same boat as your 'can not be assessed'. It can't be seen because the flow is low or not there. (the other jugular can handle the flow, and your body makes new routes for the blood to drain when one IJV is not flowing for some reason). The styloid can pinch it, part of your C1 vertebrae can pinch it, and down at the bottom of your neck, the omohyoid muscle or the space between the first rib and the clavicle can pinch it.

A stroke would more likely happen at a spot where it is pinched, and blood stagnant because it isn't moving through. I have had this for apparently a long time, but I have not had a clot issue. Can it happen? Sure. I think there is typically a lot of pain right at the clot site if there is one.... like people who get deep vein thrombosis in their legs.

I can't answer your other questions, but search with the search function; I remember a GERD discussion recently.

Sounds like your styloid might be pressing back near your tonsil, which a lot of people here have. It can cause the feeling of poking or something caught in your throat. I do not see how it would affect anything being inserted down your throat for a test.

I have a little pain in the lower part of my tongue, way in back at its base, and only on one side. I found that this pain, for me, is directly related to a muscle in my neck, though. Yours could be due to something entirely different. For me, the anterior scalene muscle that somehow is triggering that. When I loosen this muscle (which is very tender right alongside the trachea, where it travels down alongside the trachea all the way down to the first rib), the tongue stops hurting, and also my sinus swelling comes down, and pressure behind my eyes drops. It happens the second I press on the base of the anterior scalene, deep in the dent behind the collarbone. It is about 1-1.5 inches outboard from the jugular notch, and fairly deep in the tissue. This is a complicated, tiny, strong-as-hell muscle that is difficult to find. It is near the jugular and carotids, so if you are trying to find it and you feel any pulsing under your finger, move your finger to another spot. This muscle also loosens my neck and increases my ability to look left and right without tension. I can also pop my neck after this (I know that's not good, but it feels great!) It's pretty amazing a tiny muscle does all of that.

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Thank you för the answer Tee :).

The styloid pinching my jugular veine...therefore it can not be seen on the CT scan..it sounds correct to me. The other veine is much bigger than normal..."greatly expanded"..now I am really really scared. Hope I don't get a blood clot or a stroke...

Tomorrow morning I will have a gastroskopy and a coloskopy...but that's another story .

I am in so much pain now, head, hard palate, throat, stomach and colon. I hope sooooo much the doctors can find a way to help me, but untill now they don't seem to care about all my horrible pain...sending me home time after another with all this pain ...doing nothing to help me .. Please wish me luck and pray for me. I don't know how much longer I will be alive. I am only 45. This sickness(es) are overwhelming me. I have been sick since August 26, 2006 (dysphagia..so I will celebrate my 7 years of illness in the doctors office getting a gastro and colo ..) but since March everything is getting so much worse.

Best wishes to all the people fighting out there to get a proper diagnosis and help!

1 Like
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NO, no....do not get scared...you probably had this for a long time! Don't waste your days worrying too much-- really. If it was really bad, you would get a phone call pretty quickly about it. That jugular can get pretty big. If you pop your ears on a plane using the valsalva maneuver, or you strain at the gym while holding your breath, your jugular is constantly expanding. It will stretch out if it has a restriction, so that sounds like that is your case. I am not sure, but I also think they might actually see a bloodclot if there was one? My doc did a sonogram and looked for clots right there in the office. He didn't think it was likely, but he checked to be sure.

I found a video of it how much the jugular expands...I hope this makes you feel better to see how much it can change: http://vimeo.com/46049392

When I look at the size of my jugulars in my scans, compared to other scans online, mine look way bigger.

I certainly hope they find something definitive....you are too young and you should be living your life!!! In the meantime, the best thing I can tell you is to not be too imaginative with what might happen- you don't need that at all. Easier said than done, I realize, but chances are, you are not in imminent danger.

One thing I like is how detailed your report is. I think your radiologist is a good one!

Take care!