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Query: UMLS:C0018681 (headache)
 56,091 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Retropharyngeal tendinitis is a rare but underdiagnosed disorder. The clinical picture is characterized by increasingly severe pain in the upper neck occurring within 1 or 2 days and with pain aggravated by swallowing and head movements. Acute-phase roentgenograms show substantial soft-tissue swelling anterior to the vertebral bodies, C1 to C4, often accompanied by amorphous calciferous deposition below the anterior tubercle of the atlas. The course is benign, the patient being asymptomatic after 1 or 2 weeks. I briefly describe three cases which were characterized by severe pain in the mid-cervical spine and radiologic findings of soft-tissue swelling anterior to the vertebral bodies, C2-C6. These cases were probably due to acute tendinitis of the longus colli muscle, although located at a lower level than in previously reported cases of retropharyngeal tendinitis.
Cephalalgia 1988 Jun
PMID:Retropharyngeal tendinitis: three probable cases with an unusually low epicentre. 340 12

Retropharyngeal tendinitis is a rare cause of intense neck pain and occipital headache. It is caused by an aseptic inflammatory process in the longus colli tendon, triggered by deposition of calcium hydroxyapatite crystal. Clinically, it can be misdiagnosed as retropharyngeal abscess, traumatic injury, infectious spondylitis, cervical artery dissection, or even meningitis. The diagnosis is made radiographically by a nearly pathognomonic amorphous calcification anterior to C1-C2 and prevertebral soft tissue swelling. We present a new case of this uncommon condition exhibiting some unusual features.
Headache 2008 Jan
PMID:Retropharyngeal tendinitis: a rare differential diagnosis of severe headaches and neck pain. 1786 55