[Roentgenologic study of the nasopharynx based on changes in its soft-tissue component and processing of the data by...

To assess the potentialities of improving the level of x-ray diagnosis of rhinopharyngeal tumors, 4 parameters that define rhinopharyngeal soft tissue thickness on a lateral radiogram were measured in 100 persons without rhinopharyngeal pathology and in 82 patients with different tumors of this site. The levelling of sex and age influence on the measured parameters was made possible through standardizing the measurements of the C3 vertebra body in height and width. Discriminant function was plotted for a simultaneous consideration of all 4 parameters, bearing in mind that the diagnostic value of each individual parameter is not very high. A significant diagnostic response was obtained in 70% of the cases whereas in the rest of 30% of the cases, rhinopharyngeal tumor was only suspected.