Cephalometric radiographs as a means of evaluating the capacity of the nasal and nasopharyngeal airway

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out in an attempt to clarify the value of lateral skull and frontal radiographs as a means of evaluating nasal respiratory function. The study material consisted of 162 children between the ages of 6 and 12 years, with a sex distribution of 40 percent female and 60 percent male. The capacity of the nasal airway was both measured and subjectively evaluated, using lateral skull radiographs of twenty-eight children between the ages of 8 and 12 years without adenoid vegetations at the posterior nasopharyngeal wall. The size of the adenoids was measured and evaluated in a similar fashion. In addition, they were graded clinically by posterior rhinoscopy. The nasal airflow was measured according to a method previously described by Aschan and associates 1 and subsequently modified by Linder-Aronson. 7 In this way, simultaneous recordings of the airflow velocity and pressure gradient between the nasopharynx and nostrils were obtained. Subsequent correlation analyses gave the following results: 1. 1. A significant relationship between the size of the adenoids as measured on lateral skull radiographs and assessed clinically. 2. 2. A negative relationship between the size of the adenoids as measured on lateral skull radiographs and the nasal airflow. 3. 3. A significant relationship between the capacity of the nasal airway as measured on frontal radiographs and the nasal airflow. 4. 4. A reasonable assessment of the nasal airflow by subjective evaluation of airway capacity from frontal radiographs.