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CT evaluation of displaced superior cornu of ossified thyroid cartilage
E Avrahami1, M Harel, M Englender
1Department of Radiology, Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Holon, Israel.
Purpose:
To present and to demonstrate traumatic displacement of the superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage.
Patients And Methods:
Four elderly patients following minor neck trauma were referred for computed tomography (CT). They complained of a feeling of a foreign body in the throat and painful swallowing. Unilateral bulging of the hypopharynx was observed in all of them on indirect laryngoscopy. The patients underwent axial CT with 3-D reconstructions.
Results:
Axial CT demonstrated unilateral medial convexity of the ossified superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage. 3-D CT demonstrated medial convexity of the ossified complex (the lateral thyrohyoid ligament and superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage).
Conclusion:
The inflexible ossified laryngeal cartilages in elderly patients may not return to normal alignment following traumatic displacement.