[Radiological evaluation of elongated styloid process]

It is commonly forgotten that the osseous link between the tympanie and styloid part of the styloid process occurs in the fourth decade of life, and only then, the exact full lenght of the styloid process can be evaluated. Orthopantomography is a allowing to investigate the length of the process and to define it's relation to the other parts of the skull. The aim of the study was the length of the styloid process after it's complete ossification by means of orthopantomographs.

A group of 200 patients, 119 female and 81 male, aged 40 and more (mean age 53.5 years) was investigated by means of orthopantomographs taken with Kodak 8000 digital camera. The length of the process was defined by considering it's ratio to the mandibular foramen and to the angle of the mandible.

Ortopantomographs of 35.5% of the patients presented the process projecting above the mandibular foramen. In 8.5% of those cases, the process was not visible, being partly covered by the images of other skeletal structures. In 58% of the cases, the apex of the process was situated between the mandibular foramen and the angle of the mandible, and in 6.5% of the cases, it was placed below the mandibular angle. In most of the cases, the styloid processes on both sides of the skull were symmetrical.

In the patients studies, 93.5% of the cases were considered physiological; they fell into the first two categories described above. It was concluded that the range of the length of the styloid process below the mandibular angle may be regarded as elongated, thus favouring the incidence of the Eagle Syndrome.