It has been 100 years since Erwin Payr first developed an operation to improve the effects of a paralysed vocal fold, and operations based on this technique are still in use today. This technique, medialisation thyroplasty, aims to improve the symptoms caused by vocal fold palsy by realigning the lateralised vocal fold into the midline.

Whilst the effects of vocal fold palsy were recognised in antiquity, it was only with the development of indirect laryngoscopy in the late nineteenth century that the vocal fold paralysis could be identified as an aetiology for poor phonation and dysphagia. Payr, in 1915, was the first to perform a recognisable form of medialisation thyroplasty, which was further developed in the early twentieth century, but medialisation thyroplasty did not begin to be widely used until the development of the modern technique by Isshiki et al., in 1974.

Since then, medialisation thyroplasty has continued to be developed and is currently the most widely used technique for correcting the effects of vocal fold palsy. However, a wide array of therapeutic options is now available for vocal fold palsy and it is impossible to say whether or not medialisation thyroplasty will still be used in another 100 years.

The sensation of a foreign body in the throat when swallowing is a common and very discomforting symptom for those who experience it. Common causes are gastroesophageal reflux disease and possibly upper oesophageal dysmotility. This complaint may be dismissed as psychogenic when a cause for the problem is not readily apparent.

We present two cases in which the patient had a foreign body sensation in the throat, associated with a dry swallow. The most helpful diagnostic procedure was careful examination of the hypopharynx and neck and flexible fibre-optic rhinolaryngoscopy. One case was treated with surgery of the neck and larynx to trim the medially projecting superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage. Surgery was successful in eliminating the symptoms.

Although an uncommon finding, our experience is that symptoms due to a medially displaced thyroid cornu should be considered in the differential diagnosis as an important and surgically correctable cause of persistent foreign body sensation at the hyoid level in the neck.

Sarcomas of the larynx are extremely rare neoplasms that account for approximately one per cent of all tumours of this organ. We present a case of laryngeal chondrosarcoma originating from thyroid cartilage, characterized by an unusual long clinical course over 15 years without laryngeal symptoms or duplication of metastases, treated at the Süleyman Demirel University Medical Faculty, Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department.

Eight patients with cervical pain were examined. The only positive finding was an impressive tenderness over the thyroid cartilage (in seven patients) or over the area of the insertion of the sternocleidomastoid muscle to the mastoid process (in one patient). The diagnosis of thyroid cartilage syndrome and mastoid process syndrome were suggested and the patients were treated with oral and topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatorydrugs (NSAIDs) which reduced the symptoms. These syndromes are rare. The thyroid cartilage syndrome has been previously reported only once in the literature and this is the firstreport on the mastoid process syndrome. These syndromes, although rare, should be included in the list of causes for cervical pain and better recognition of the syndromes will save patients from undergoing unnecessary investigation and inappropriate treatment.

Fifty-one patients who presented with anterior cervical or throat pain, without apparent cause, were selected for study at the ENT outpatient department from January 1987 to January 1992. Their clinical symptoms, probable aetiologies and treatment were studied. The most common diagnosis was hyoid syndrome, followed by thyroid cartilage syndrome and cricoid cartilage syndrome. These last two syndromes have not been previously reported because they were coined in Ramathibodi Hospital for patients who had similar clinical patterns localized to the thyroid and cricoid cartilages respectively. Treatment using intralesional triamcinolone acetonide injection was effective in all cases. There was no recurrence after one-five years follow-up.

We report on the case of a young woman, presenting with a left lateral neck lump, which turned out to be a bony callus originating from the thyroid cartilage; similar but smaller lesions were found on the same side in the hyoid and cricoid cartilages. The CT, MRI and pathological findings are described.