Adenoid is a kind of tonsil located in the posterior wall of nasopharynx. Enlargement of the adenoid can produce obstruction of the nasopharynx and Eustachian tube. Disturbance in discharge of nasal and paranasal secretions can be a cause of
chronic
rhinitis, sinusitis, and otitis media. Diagnosis of enlarged adenoid simply by inspection is difficult due to its location. Measurement of nasopharyngeal airway and adenoid using lateral radiographs of nasopharynx may be inaccurate for
magnification and
rotation. It was some limitations in demonstrating the actual state of nasopharyngeal airway and adenoid because it gives only two-dimensional informations.
The authors measured the sizes and areas of nasopharyngeal airway and adenoid using MRI with sagittal and oblique coronal pilot views of T1 weighted spin echo. We categorized the patients into 4 groups according to the scoring system by symptoms
such as
apnea, mouth breathing, and snoring. The results of several measurements and their ratios were evaluated in these 4 categorized patients.
The ratios of area of adenoid and nasopharyngeal airway(AA/Na) in each patient group were 6.52, 7.76, 10.53, 15.93, respectively. And the ratios of adenoid and nasopharyngeal airway (A/N) by Fujioka's method were 0.6, 0.65, 0.69, 0.71,
respectively. We
found that AA/Na might be the most effective index as an objective indicator in the evaluation of nasopharyngeal obstruction by the enlarged adenoid.
|