Radiographic measurement of prevertebral soft tissue thickness on lateral radiographs of the neck

The prevertebral soft tissue measurement is commonly used for assessing prevertebral pathology such as abscesses or hematomas after injury. Very few references concerning the ratio of retrotracheal thickness to C5 diameter are available in the literature. The purpose of this study was to measure the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Skeletal radiology 1999-08, Vol.28 (8), p.444-446
Main Authors: CHEN, M. Y. M, BOHRER, S. P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Cervical Vertebrae - diagnostic imaging
Female
Humans
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
Male
Medical sciences
Neck - anatomy & histology
Neck - diagnostic imaging
Otorhinolaryngology. Stomatology. Orbit
Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry
Radiography
Reference Values
Standard deviation
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The prevertebral soft tissue measurement is commonly used for assessing prevertebral pathology such as abscesses or hematomas after injury. Very few references concerning the ratio of retrotracheal thickness to C5 diameter are available in the literature. The purpose of this study was to measure the normal soft tissue thickness at the C5 level of the neck and to establish the normal ratio of retrotracheal soft tissue thickness to the diameter of C5 for daily use. We measured soft tissue thickness in the neck of 54 normal subjects and calculated the mean and standard deviation. Using mean plus one standard deviation the maximum retrocricoid soft tissue thickness was 0.7xC5 diameter and maximum retrotracheal thickness was 1.0xC5 diameter. Soft tissue thickness that exceeds this limit must be studied further for signs of potential disease.
ISSN:0364-2348
1432-2161
DOI:10.1007/s002560050543