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Clicking in the Throat
Cinematic Fiction or Surgical Fact?
Marshall E. Smith, MD;
Gerald S. Berke, MD;
Steven D. Gray, MD;
Heather Dove, MA;
Ric Harnsberger, MD
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2001;127:1129-1131.
The complaint of a clicking in the throat when swallowing is uncommon
but very discomforting and painful for those who experience it. It is such
an unusual complaint that symptoms may be dismissed as psychogenic because
a cause for the problem may not be readily apparent. We present a series of
11 cases in which all patients had an audible clicking or popping noise in
the throat associated with neck and throat pain when swallowing or turning
the neck. The most helpful diagnostic procedure was careful examination and
palpation of the neck while the patient swallowed to localize the side and
source of the clicking. Laryngeal computed tomographic (CT) scans helped in
some cases to demonstrate thyroid-cartilage and/or vertebral body asymmetry.
Each case was treated with surgery of the neck and larynx to trim the portion
of the thyroid cartilage causing the clicking. In most cases the superior
cornu of the thyroid cartilage projected posteriorly and medially. Surgery
was successful in all cases to eliminate the symptoms. Though an uncommon
complaint, our experience suggests that the clicking throat is a surgically
treatable problem.
From the Division of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, National
Center for Voice and Speech (Drs Smith and Gray and Ms Dove) and the Department
of Radiology (Dr Harnsberger), University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt
Lake City; and the Division of Head and Neck Surgery, University of California,
Los Angeles, UCLA School of Medicine (Dr Berke).
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