[Correlations between anatomy and x-ray computed tomography in cancers of the pharyngo-larynx. Apropos of a prospective study of 35 patients].

A prospective study has been conducted in 35 cases of pharyngolaryngeal's carcinoma, between december 1990 and june 1992 in the department of Head and Neck Surgery of Strasbourg. The authors compared, in a statistic analysis, Computed Tomography and histopathologic's correlations. The operative specimen were sectioned in the horizontal plane to correspond with the CT sections. 11 structures were studied more particularly. Results revealed an excellent sensibility for the study of the pre-epiglottic spaces (100%). Inversely, the study of the para glottic space is less good (69% of sensibility). We found that the CT Scan was of no value for the study of the thyroid cartilage, particularly for detection of subclinical lesions. Overall, this study allowed to confirm the value of the CT Scan in the investigation of pharyngolaryngeal tumors but its limits also.