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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Neurol.
Sec. Endovascular and Interventional Neurology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1463275
This article is part of the Research Topic Reviews in Preventative Health for Stroke and Education to Stroke Prevention View all 3 articles

Vascular variant of Eagle syndrome: a review

Provisionally accepted
Joy Tadjer Joy Tadjer Yannick Béjot Yannick Béjot *
  • Centre Hospitalier Regional Universitaire De Dijon, Dijon, Burgundy, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Eagle syndrome is defined as an elongated styloid process (ESP) that compresses nearby vasculonervous structures. Vascular variant of Eagle syndrome can lead to neurological symptoms including syncope, transient ischemic attack or stroke, but other atypical presentations have been described, which can make its diagnosis challenging. This review aimed to depict the characteristics of patients with symptomatic vascular variant of Eagle syndrome. The literature search identified 56 reported cases of vascular variants of Eagle syndrome, with a mean age at onset of 51 years (range: 15-85 years), and a male-to-female ratio was 2.4. ESP was bilateral in 63% of cases and mean length was 48 mm (range: 31-77 mm). Vascular complications were mostly represented by internal jugular vein (IVJ) stenosis (n=28), followed by internal carotid artery (ICA) dissection (n=15). Eight cases of ICA thrombosis and two cases of severe chronic stenosis of ICA >90% were also described. Vascular complications may lead to cerebral ischemia due to either a thromboembolic mechanism or less frequently low blood flow.A laminar cortical necrosis as a cerebral complication of ICA compression was exceptionally described in one case, and such atypical clinical presentation may be regarded as a diagnostic pitfall.

    Keywords: Eagle syndrome, Elongated styloid process, Stylocarotid syndrome, Stroke, Laminar cortical necrosis

    Received: 23 Jul 2024; Accepted: 19 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tadjer and Béjot. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yannick Béjot, Centre Hospitalier Regional Universitaire De Dijon, Dijon, 21079, Burgundy, France

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.