Objective To discuss the value of Valsalva experiment combined with improved MRI tilt tomography applying on the pharyngeal ostium of eustachian tube opening function of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods 1 7 cases with patholog-ically proved NPC underwent conventional MRI plain and enhanced scan.In the eustachian tube area oblique transection T2 WI and T1 WI scanning was done before and after the Valsalva experiment.The invasion of eustachian tube and its surrounding structures was analyzed and the eustachian tube function was evaluated.Results Valsalva experiments combined with improved MRI trans-verse oblique scan could clearly display the whole structure of the eustachian tube and surrounding tissue invasion compared with conventional scanning MR scan.And it could better evaluate the eustachian tube opening function for patients suffered nasopharynge-al carcinoma.Conclusion Valsalva experiments with improved MRI oblique transverse imaging could achieve individualized scan of the eustachian tube,and could be used for evaluating the pharyngeal opening function of eustachian tube in patients with nasopharyn-geal carcinoma.

Objective To characterize the features of Nasopharyngeal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) on MR imaging and find the main points to differentiate it from the other nasopharyngeal tumors.Methods The MR images of 41 patients with pathologically and immunohistochemically proven nasopharyngeal NHLs were reviewed retrospectively. Images were assessed by the size, invasive extent,signal intensity of primary nasopharyngeal tumor, and the distribution of cervical lymphadenopethy. The difference of regional tissues invasion and cervical lymphadenopathy distribution between the patients with B-cell NHLs and the patients with T-cell or NK/T-cell NHLs were analyzed by Pearson's Chi-Square test or Fisher's exact test Results Of the 41 patients, 26 patients had mature B-cell lymphoma, two patients with mature T-cell Iymphoma, and thirteen patients showed Nature killer/T-cell lymphoma in nasopharynx. MRI revealed that NHLs of nasopharynx can be showed as thickening of nasopharyngeal mucosa and (or) lumps in nasopharynx, which were slightly hyper-intensity on T2-weighted images, and intermediate signal intensity (similar to muscle) on T1 -weighted images, with mild or moderated enhancement following contrast medium administration. Twenty four cases had symmetrical disease of all walls of nasopharynx, and 17 cases had unsymmetrical tumor. Of all cases, 5 cases had superficial ulcerations, 9 cases had exceed nasoharynx invasion spreads superficially along the mucosa, 23 cases had invasion of lingual and (or) palatine tonsils,20 cases showed invasion of parapharygeal muscles, 12 cases suffered from skull base bone infiltration,25 cases had retropaharyngeal lymphadenopathy, and 27 cases had cervical lymhadenopathy. Patient with nasopharyngeal Nature killer/T-cell lymphoma had a higher incidence of exceed nasopharynx invasion,parapharyngeal structures invasion, and superficial ulcerations (the cases were 8, 11, 4 in patient with T-cell or N K/T-cell lymphoma, and 4, 10, 1 in patients with B-cell lymphoma, respectively). Patients with nasopharyngeal B-cell lymphoma had a higher incidence of inasion of lingual and (or) palatine tonsils.Conclusions Nasopharyngeal NHL is a homogeneous tumor that tends to diffusely involve all walls of the nasopharynx and spread in an exophytic fashion to fill the airway, rather than infiltrating into the deep tissues. Different pathological types of nasopharyngeal NHLs have some different appearance on MRI between each other. A large tumor in nasopharynx that fills the nasopharynx cavity, with no or minimal invasion into deep structures, but with invasion extend down into the lingual and(or)palatine tonsils, may suggest the diagnosis of nasopharyneal NHL.

Objective To study the imaging features of Kimura disease to improve diagnostic ability prior to surgery.Methods The clinical manifestations and CT and MR findings of 11 patients with histologically confirmed Kimura disease were retrospectively analyzed.All 11 tumors originated from (or involved)the parotid region in 7 cases, the maxillofacial region in 2 cases, the palate in one case and the groin in one case.Clinically, the lesions showed asymptomatic tumors with the mean clinical course over 2 years.The increase of cosinophilic granulocyte was found in all 11 cases.Results On CT and MRI,5 patients were single masses and others were muhi-nodular masses.The smallest lesion was 6 mm×3 mm,and the largest lesion was 60 mm × 34 mm.The lesions were almost ill-defined in the subcutaneous tissue,especially 10 locating underlying superficialfascia in head and neck.On CT,the lesions showed homogeneous hypodense to the muscle in 9 patients.The lesions appeared isointeuse signal or slightly hypointense on MR T1WI and slightly hyperinteuse on T2WI in 3 patients.All lesions revealed moderate or marked, and homogeneous or inhomngeneous enhancement.Regional lymph nodes (eight cases in the maxillofacial region and one in the groin) enlarged without necrosis and fusion, and with marked enhancement.Conclusion The clinical and imaging findings of Kimura disease have some characteristics, the diagnosis can be made combined with the laboratory examination.