Giant Cervical Osteophytes Their Significance in ENT Practice

Foresteir's disease or Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) involving the cervical vertebrae in two patients is being presented as an uncommon cause of snoring and dysphagia. The radiological features of the giant osteophytes involving the cervical vertebrae are detected on routine skiagrams of the neck. A review of literature over ten years showed no such record of such a lesion occurring in C1-C2 vertebrae, whereas the occurrence in the lower cervical vertebrae is occasionally seen causing dysphagia. The relative merits of the surgical approaches are discussed.