Open-mouth versus closed-mouth radiographs of the nasopharynx in the evaluation of nasopharyngeal airway obstruction

The open-mouth and closed-mouth nasopharyngeal airway radiographs of 53 children, whose symptomatology score was concordant with nasopharyngeal airway obstruction that may be due to adenoidal enlargement, were taken and, for each radiograph, nasopharyngeal airway/soft palate (NA/SP) ratio was measured and graded using the method of Cohen and Konak. According to the statistical analysis, since closed-mouth views correlated better with the symptomatology score than the open-mouth views, if a radiological measurement is needed to evaluate the nasopharyngeal airway obstruction, closed-mouth views can be chosen.