Anterior cervical pain syndromes.

The paucity of clinical findings in patients with glossopharyngeal neuralgia, superior laryngeal neuralgia, styloid process syndrome, hyoid syndrome, or carotidynia presents an enigma to the patient and the physician. Manifest symptoms appear extraneous or incongruous unless the essential element is identified. Common to all these syndromes is the radiation of pain over the neck and face, starting from the anterior cervical area of the neck. Case histories of seven patients are presented. The rationale of underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms is discussed and supported by relevant recent basic pain research, and conceptual speculations are presented.