title: Sonographic findings of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its involvement in the parapharyngeal space.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the sonographic performance in pathologically proven cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its involvement in the parapharyngeal space.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included 58 patients being treated for suspected nasopharyngeal carcinoma detected by routine nasopharyngoscopy who underwent pathologic biopsy. Sonography was performed immediately thereafter with a convex array transducer in both the B-mode and color mode. Forty-five of the 58 patients (90 parapharyngeal spaces) in whom nasopharyngeal carcinoma was proved by both sonography and pathologic biopsy underwent preradiotherapy magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The sonographic findings were compared to the pathologic findings. The sonographic findings of parapharyngeal space involvement were correlated with the MRI findings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The normal anatomy of the nasopharynx and parapharyngeal space, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and its relationship with the parapharyngeal space were well shown on sonography. The sensitivity of sonography for detection of nasopharyngeal carcinoma was 97.8%, and the specificity was 41.7%. The sonographic findings of parapharyngeal space involvement had a high degree of agreement with MRI (κ = 0.757; P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These promising initial data indicate that sonography may be a useful tool for diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma and defining the relationship between the tumor and the parapharyngeal space.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Ultrasound, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
authors.forename: Dai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Shang-Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Yuan-Bing
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ya-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Hai-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Lun
authors.forename: Yu-Ya
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001934:Branchial Region; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D010614:Pharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: nasopharyngeal carcinoma; parapharyngeal space; sonography