The Investigation of the Repeatibility of the Pharyngeal Area Measurement With Lateral Cephalometric Films and Acoustic Pharyngometry Technique

Aim; The investigation of the repeatability ofacoustic pharyngometry technique and lateralcephalometric films and the present the advantagesand the disadvantages of the two techniques.Methods : Two lateral cephalometric filmsand acoustic pharyngometry measurements weretaken from 20 healty adult subjects in a week period.The acoustic pharyngometry measurementswere done with cephalostate, in natural head positionand orthoposition in order to prevent the negativeeffect of head, shoulder and tongue positionand to provide standardization. Lateral cephalometricfilms were taken in the some conditions.The repeatability of angular, linear and areameasurements derived from lateral cephalogramsand the volume of analysis segment (volume),mean pharyngeal cross sectional area (mean area),minimum pharyngeal cross-section area(min.area) and minimum distance (min dist) derivedfrom acoustic pharyngometry were investigated.Results : The angular measurements (r =0,99, r = 1; p 0.001), linear measurement andarea measurements (r = 0,99; p 0,001) derived peatable.Analysis segment volume and meanpharyngeal cross-sectional area (r = 0,96 p 0.001), minimum pharyngeal cross – section area(r = 0,98, p 0.001) and minimum distance (r =0,99, p 0.001) derived from acoustic pharyngometrymeasurements were found to be repeatable.Conclusion : The acoustic pharyngometrytechnique and the lateral cephalometry werefound to be repeatible when the measurementwere done with cephalostate, in natural head positionand orthoposition.