Anterior cervical pain syndromes: hyoid, thyroid and cricoid cartilage syndromes and their treatment with triamcinolone acetonide.

Fifty-one patients who presented with anterior cervical or throat pain, without apparent cause, were selected for study at the ENT outpatient department from January 1987 to January 1992. Their clinical symptoms, probable aetiologies and treatment were studied. The most common diagnosis was hyoid syndrome, followed by thyroid cartilage syndrome and cricoid cartilage syndrome. These last two syndromes have not been previously reported because they were coined in Ramathibodi Hospital for patients who had similar clinical patterns localized to the thyroid and cricoid cartilages respectively. Treatment using intralesional triamcinolone acetonide injection was effective in all cases. There was no recurrence after one-five years follow-up.