Morphometric Study Of Pharyngeal Orifice Of Auditory Tube In South Indian Population

ABSTRACT

Auditory tube extends from the anterior wall of middle ear to the lateral wall of the nasopharynx at the level ofinferior turbinate. It plays an important role in maintaining the equilibrium of air. In the patients suffering fromchronic otitis media, the auditory tube plays an very important landmark for the endoscopic evaluation and fortransnasal approach to the infratemporal fossa. The present study was aimed to locate the pharyngeal orifice ofthe auditory tube in relation to the important anatomical landmarks. The study was carried out on 50 sagittalhead and neck sections of formalin fixed cadavers. The pharyngeal opening of auditory tube was looked for itsshape, size and position. The anatomical landmarks with reference to the pharyngeal opening of auditory tubetaken were posterior end of inferior turbinate, perpendicular distance from the clivus, from the roof of nasopharynx,from the posterior end of hard palate and from the anterior arch of atlas. The distance from these anatomicallandmarks to the pharyngeal orifice of auditory tube were measured using digital vernier calipers. The mean andstandard deviations of the distances were calculated and tabulated. The measured distances were slightlyhigher on the right than the left side. These differences were not statistically significant. The present study isuseful for otorhinolaryngologists to locate the position of pharyngeal opening of auditory tube endoscopicallyand evaluate patients with diseases of middle ear.