Cephalometrics of Pharyngeal Airway Space in Lebanese Adults

Figure 1

Cephalometric pharyngeal airway space variables divided vertically into (A) nasopharynx: (1) PPW Ad2-PNS (distance between posterior nasal spine (PNS) and the posterior pharyngeal wall (PPW) along a line perpendicular to Ba-S), (2) PPW Ad1-PNS (distance between PNS and PPW along the line PNS-Ba), and (3) PPW-PNS (distance between PNS and PPW along the palatal plane); (B) oropharynx subdivided into (a) soft palate and retropalatal areas: (4) uvula area, (5) uvula thickness (distance between front and back of uvula at its thickest point), (6) PNS-P (soft palate length from PNS to the lower tip of the uvula), (7) ANS-PNS-P angle (formed by the lines ANS-PNS and PNS-P), (8) PPW-P uvula (distance between uvula tip and the PPW along a line parallel to the palatal plane), (9) PPW-uvula dorsum (distance between uvula dorsum (middistance P-PNS) and PPW along a line parallel to the palatal plane), and (10) PPW-UvOp (distance between uvula dorsum and PPW along the occlusal plane); (b) retroglossal region: (11) PPW-TgOp (distance between the highest point on tongue dorsum and PPW along the occlusal plane), (12) PPW-GoB (distance between gonion and PPW along the line Go-B), (13) PPW-tongue base (distance between the most posterior point on tongue base and PPW along a line parallel to the palatal plane), and (14) Eb-PNS (vertical airway length); (c) tongue: (15) Eb-TT (distance between epiglottis base (Eb) and tongue tip (TT)), (16) TgH (distance between midpoint Eb-TT and the highest point on tongue dorsum), (17) Eb-Tg dorsum (distance between Eb and tongue dorsum), and (18) TgH dorsum (distance between midpoint Eb-TT and tongue dorsum); and (C) hypopharynx including (19) PPW-Eb (distance between Eb and PPW along a line parallel to the palatal plane).