Symptomatic Triticeal Cartilage: An Unusual Etiology of Unilateral Odynophagia and Pharyngeal Discomfort

Background Older adults with throat discomfort often undergo imaging to exclude malignancy, vascular disease, or infection. Rarely, asymmetric enlargement and ossification of the triticeal cartilage can mimic these serious pathologies.  Case Presentation A 78-year-old man had persistent right-sided throat discomfort, odynophagia, and foreign-body sensation for ten weeks. Images acquired in 128 slice GE-OPTIMA CT 660, with slice thickness of 1.5 mm, 120 kVp, 200 mAs, with standard iterative reconstruction, showed bilateral partially ossified triticeal cartilages, with asymmetric enlargement on the right. The right cartilage (4.8 mm) compressed the posterior pharyngeal wall and nearly effaced the right pyriform sinus, while the smaller left cartilage (3.2 mm) caused no impingement. These findings correlated with the unilateral symptoms and excluded neoplastic or stylohyoid anomalies. Symptoms resolved completely after conservative management with NSAIDs over 12 weeks, underscoring the benign nature of symptomatic ossified triticeal cartilage.  Conclusion Awareness of symptomatic triticeal cartilage prevents misdiagnosis and unnecessary interventions.