CT evaluation of displaced superior cornu of ossified thyroid cartilage.

PURPOSE

To present and to demonstrate traumatic displacement of the superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Four elderly patients following minor neck trauma were referred for computed tomography (CT). They complained of a feeling of a foreign body in the throat and painful swallowing. Unilateral bulging of the hypopharynx was observed in all of them on indirect laryngoscopy. The patients underwent axial CT with 3-D reconstructions.

RESULTS

Axial CT demonstrated unilateral medial convexity of the ossified superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage. 3-D CT demonstrated medial convexity of the ossified complex (the lateral thyrohyoid ligament and superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage).

CONCLUSION

The inflexible ossified laryngeal cartilages in elderly patients may not return to normal alignment following traumatic displacement.