Anatomy of palatovaginal canal in normal adults: multi-slice spiral CT and curved planar reconstruction studies

Abstract

Objective To muhi-directionally visualize and measure the normal anatomy of palatovaginal canal and its communications with high-resolution multi-slice spiral CT and its post-processing technologies.Methods One hundred and sixty-seven subjects with normal PPF and its communications were examined by 16-MSCT using high-resolution technique.The MPR and CPR images of palatovaginal canal were obtained on postproeessing workstation.The length and diameter of the palatovaginal canal and its communications was measured and analyzed with one way ANOVA analysis and independent samples t test.Results In this study, the detection rate of palatovaginal canal on 167 subjects was 98.8% (330/334).The mean length of left and right palatovaginal canal was (1.18 ± 0.22) cm and (1.07 ± 0.29) cm, respectively.The mean diameter of anterior opening (0.19±0.06)cm was significantly larger than median (0.10 ± 0.04) cm and posterior opening (0.16 ± 0.07)cm in left palatovaginal canal (F = 211.109, P 0.05 ;right:t = 1.117,P > 0.05).Between the men [left: (0.19±0.06) cm, (0.10 +0.04) cm and (0.16±0.07) cm; right: (0.19±0.06) cm,(0.10±0.04) cm,(0.16±0.06) cm] and women [left: (0.20±0.08) cm, (0.10±0.04) cm and (0.15±0.05) cm; right: (0.20±0.06) cm, (0.09± 0.04) cm and (0.15±0.05) cm], no significant difference on diameter measurements was revealed (left: t =- 1.183,0.190 and 1.660 ; fight: t = - 1.420,1.210 and 0.802 ; all P > 0.05).Conclusion On the basis of high-resolution MDCT scan, MPR and CPR images could visualize clearly the morphologic features of the palatovaginal canal, which may be helpful for making diagnostic and therapeutic decisions because more imaging information could be obtained. Key words: Palatovaginal canal; Palate, hard; Sphenoid bone; Tomography, X-raycomputed; Radiography, panoramic