Abstract
A seventy years old man was brought to the emergency department with a complaint of sudden headache. His blood pressure was high, but other vital signs showed no abnormalities. Physical examination revealed swelling in the neck, and blood tests showed a little increase in inflammatory response. Contrast-enhanced head and neck CT were performed, but vascular lesion was not found. Calcification ahead of cervical spine was found. The pain became better by analgesics. After that, he visited the department of neurology and was diagnosed as calcific tendinitis of the longus coli muscle. One month later, his symptoms were improved.
A search of Ichushi, the Japanese medical literature search engine, revealed a total of 84 cases (male: 49, female: 35). The mean age of the patients was 45.0±12.7. All patients were improved with analgesics including NSAIDs. The duration was 9.0±8.3 days. The main symptoms were back neck pain and swallowing pain. Headache was present in just 5 cases (6%). Image test should include the cervical region when patients complained of headache with swallowing or neck pain. Because the knowledge about this disease is limited, calcific tendinitis of the longus coli muscle may be overlooked. We should increase awareness of this disease.
