ANáLISIS MORFOMéTRICO DE LOS ELEMENTOS DE LA CADENA ESTILOHIOíDEA

summary: the stylohyoid chain is formed by the styloid process of temporal bone, the stylohyoid ligament and the lesser cornu of hyoid bone. the pathophysiology of this chain is quiet studied, mainly referring to the syndrome of eagle, a clinical entity characterized by the elongation of the styloid process, presenting symptoms like dysphonia, dysphagia, pharyngeal pain, glossitis, otalgia, tonsillitis, facial pain, cephalalgia, odynophagia, and pain in the temporomandibular joint. morphometric evidence about these structures is scarce in the literature. thus, this study stablished values of length of the stylohyoid chain and its elements. 30 stylohyoid chains of 15 necks regions of corpse of the departamento de anatomia do centro de ciências biológicas da ufpe, where dissected and measured using a pachymeter with accuracy of 0,02mm. the statistical analysis veryfied that the evidence presented in this study are in accordance with the literature about the styloid process of temporal bone, besides to discuss values for the stylohyoid ligament and the lesser cornu of hyoid bone, which are not available in the literature