Assessment of surgical treatment of Eagle’s syndrome

Introduction: The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of surgical treatment of patients with Eagle’s syndrome, taking into account both early and late results. Material and methods: The study group consisted of 15 patients who underwent resection of the styloid process due to Eagle syndrome in the period of 2005–2017. During the follow-up visit, the patients were asked to fill in a post-operative questionnaire that compared the pre-operative symptoms and their severity with the patients’ current health condition. The VAS pain scale was used to assess each symptom, and the Laitinen scale was used to assess the quality of life. Data from patients’ medical records were also included. The results of the surveys were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: The study showed that in 11 out of 15 cases there was a significant improvement in the level of pain (70.5% on average) and an improvement in quality of life (on average 65%) comparing to the pre-operative condition. The Wilcoxon test for binding pairs, the Mann-Whitney test, the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Spearman correlation coefficient were used in the statistical analysis. There were statistically significant correlations between the recorded improvement rate and the length of the resected styloid process and its setting. Discussion: The study proved that resection of prolonged styloid process from extraoral approach in most cases is an effective method of treatment of Eagle syndrome, that carries low risk of complications.