[CT and ultrasonographic findings in patients with carotidynia]

We report 2 cases of clinical signs and symptoms consistent with idiopathic carotidynia, evaluating and following up the appearance of carotidynia on CT and ultrasonography. Subjects were a 22-year-old woman and an 82-year-old man reporting pain and mass on the left side of the neck. They had abnormal soft-tissue infiltration surrounding the symptomatic carotid artery centered at the distal common carotid and carotid bifurcation in CT and ultrasonography. Their symptoms were resolved within 2 weeks. Repeat CT and ultrasonography after resolution of symptoms showed an absence of the previous abnormality. Few reports have described radiological findings in carotidynia, and CT and ultrasonography enable the evaluation of patients with suspected carotidynia and of most common entities in the differential diagnosis of carotidynia, including aneurysm, aneurysmal dissection, thrombosis, lymphadenitis, submandibular gland disease, and head and neck tumors.