Sonographic findings of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its involvement in the parapharyngeal space

Usefulness of ultrasound for assessing the primary tumor of hypopharyngeal carcinoma

Objectives

To clarify the usefulness of ultrasonography for detecting hypopharyngeal cancer.

Study Design

Cross-sectional study.

Methods

The study included 95 patients who underwent pre-treatment ultrasonography. We evaluated the usefulness of ultrasonography for detecting primary hypopharyngeal carcinoma of each T stage and subsite, and for assessing extrahypopharyngeal invasion. Additionally, we determined the efficacy of color Doppler for evaluating primary hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

Results

The patients comprised 93 men and 2 women with a mean age of 67.5 years. The T stage (primary tumors) was T1 in 29 patients, T2 in 22, T3 in 9, and T4 in 35. Primary sites with a T stage over T3 were detected using ultrasonography in 17 patients.Regarding primary subsites, postcricoid tumors were assessed most easily (64%), while posterior wall tumors were the most difficult to assess (25%). In 15 of 17 patients, the evaluation of extrahypopharyngeal invasion by ultrasonography matched up precisely with computed tomography findings. In addition, abnormally increased blood flow in primary hypopharyngeal cancers was recognized by color Doppler, and could be used to predict subsites.

Conclusions

Cancers at T3 and T4 hypopharyngeal primary tumors and their extrahypopharyngeal invasion were detectable using ultrasonography. Furthermore, ultrasonography was useful for assessing postcricoid tumors that were difficult to observe by flexible laryngoscopy.

Level of Evidence

4.

The diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography versus endoscopy for primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objective

To compare the accuracy of ultrasonography (US) with the current clinical standard of endoscopy for a diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

Methods

A total of 150 patients suspected of having NPC underwent US and endoscopy. A diagnosis was obtained from an endoscopic biopsy collected from each suspected tumor and was compared with a biopsy obtained from a normal nasopharynx. The diagnostic accuracy of US and endoscopy for NPC was evaluated using receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis performed by MedCalc Software.

Results

The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of US versus endoscopy for this cohort were 90.1%, 84.8%, and 87.3% for US, and 88.7%, 97.5%, and 93.3% for endoscopy, respectively. Both US and endoscopy exhibited good diagnostic accuracy for NPC with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.929 and 0.938, respectively. However, this difference was not significant (Z = 0.36, P = 0.72).

Conclusion

US is a useful tool for the detection of tumors in endoscopically suspicious nasopharynx tissues, and also for the detection of subclinical tumors in endoscopically normal nasopharynx tissues.