title: Nasopharyngeal tract length measurement in infants.
abstract: Artificial nasopharyngeal (NP) airway is a common device used to secure upper airway patency. The proper length of its insertion is important, especially in infants. The purpose of this study is to measure and compare the endoscopic and the anthropometric measurements of NP length in infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  We collected data from 413 infants who received flexible fiberoptic endoscopy. Endoscopic measurement length is from the nostril to the vocal cord (N-V distance). Anthropometric measurement length is from the nose tip to the earlobe. We stratified the infants into four groups by body weight and compared the difference between the two measurement methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean length of the endoscopic measurement is compatible to the anthropometric measurement in all four groups. There is a statistically significant correlation between the N-V distance and the body length (p = 0.0001, r = 0.83), the body weight (p = 0.0001, r = 0.81), and the age (p = 0.0001, r = 0.64).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The anthropometric measurement of nasopharyngeal airway length is nearly identical to the endoscopic measurement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chung-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Wen-Jue
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Soong
authors.forename: Mei-Jy
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Jeng
authors.forename: Yu-Sheng
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chin-Yuan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Betau
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hwang
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis