Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2023 , Vol 69 , Num 4

The critical role of computed tomography in the differential diagnosis of acute calcific tendinitis of longus colli muscle: A case report

Gülden Karatağ 1 ,Gürdal Nusran 2 ,Coşkun Zateri 3 ,Ozan Karatağ 4
1 Department of Radiology, Çanakkale State Hospital, Çanakkale, Türkiye
2 Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale, Türkiye
3 Department of Radiology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale, Türkiye
4 Department of Radiology, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale, Türkiye
DOI : 10.5606/tftrd.2022.10476 Acute longus colli calcific tendinitis (ALCT) is a non-infectious inflammatory process. The typical clinical triad is acute neck pain, neck stiffness, and odynophagia. These findings can be confused with many common pathologies. As ALCT treatment is conservative and relatively easy, making the correct diagnosis is important. Radiology is of critical importance in the diagnosis of ACLT. The detection of prevertebral calcification by computed tomography is pathognomonic. Herein, we present a case with a sudden onset of neck and occipital pain accompanied by odynophagia following acute trauma and diagnosed with ALCT by radiological examination. Keywords : Computed tomography, longus colli tendinitis, neck pain, magnetic resonance imaging, odynophagia, X-ray