Metastatic retropharyngeal lymph nodes in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: imaging criteria.

Evaluation of: Zhang GY, Liu LZ, Wei WH, Deng YM, Li YZ, Liu XW. Radiologic criteria of retropharyngeal lymph node metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with radiation therapy. Radiology 255(2), 605-612 (2010). Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the most common nasopharyngeal neoplasm and has a high propensity for developing regional neck adenopathy. NPC arises most often in the fossa of Rosenmüller, and differs significantly from other head and neck cancers with respect to its incidence, etiology, clinical behavior and treatment. NPC is commonly associated with retropharyngeal nodes. As retropharyngeal nodes are anatomically difficult to approach for biopsy/fine-needle aspiration cytology, imaging plays a critical role in their detection and staging. The paper by Zhang et al. reports data on 303 NPC patients from a large center in China and highlights specific radiologic criteria for assessing retropharyngeal nodal metastases in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.