title: Investigation of the Upper Airway Anatomy With Ultrasound.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study were to describe the relationship between the scanning planes and appearance of the upper airway on sonography and to demonstrate the reliability and reproducibility of sonographic measurements of the upper airway.
  
  
  METHODS
  Airway sonoanatomy was recognized by comparing the airway images and the corresponding cadaver's anatomical specimens. Systemic sonographic examination of 267 healthy volunteers was conducted to obtain the sonographic measurement of airway lumen. The reliability and reproducibility studies were conducted in 40 healthy volunteers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The air-filled upper airway appeared as a bright heterogeneous hyperechoic line. During deep inspiration, the upper airway lumen expanded to the highest anterior-posterior dimension, whereas during deep expiration, the lateral dimension tended to increase. The sonographic measurements had good reproducibility, with intraclass correlation coefficient ranging from 0.722 to 0.887 and 0.727 to 0.882 for interobserver and intraobserver reliability, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ultrasonography can determine the anatomy of the upper airway and perform the quantitative analysis of the upper airway lumen during respiration. The results were encouraging and support the utility of ultrasonography in future airway disorder studies.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Diagnostic Ultrasound, People's Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; †Department of Diagnostic Ultrasound, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University; and ‡Department of Anatomy, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Lun
authors.forename: Shang-Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Ruo-Chuan
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jian-Gu
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Yao-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007830:Larynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009666:Nose / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D056888:Patient Positioning / Q000379:methods*; D010614:Pharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult