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Improved inspection of the lateral pharyngeal recess using cone-beam computed tomography in the upright position

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Abstract

Objectives

To evaluate the structure of the lateral pharyngeal recess (LPR) and surrounding structures in computed tomography (CT) images obtained from subjects in the supine and upright positions.

Methods

Six subjects were evaluated using cone-beam CT (CBCT) in the upright position, and with a four-row multidetector helical CT (MDCT) in the supine position. All of the voxel sizes were adjusted to 0.3 × 0.3 × 0.3 mm3 in the x, y, z coordinate system. The posterior nasal spine and basion were used as references. The LPR and surrounding structures were measured and compared in the two different modalities.

Results

In 83% of the cases, the LPR was deeper when the position was changed from supine to upright.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that imaging of the LPR using CBCT with the subject in the upright position is superior to that using MDCT with the subject in the supine position.

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Correspondence to Pipop Sutthiprapaporn.

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Sutthiprapaporn, P., Tanimoto, K., Ohtsuka, M. et al. Improved inspection of the lateral pharyngeal recess using cone-beam computed tomography in the upright position. Oral Radiol 24, 71–75 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-008-0078-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-008-0078-2

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