To review the anatomy of nasopharynx and study the normal cranial nerve imaging findings on ceMRN To learn the general situation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma To give an conventional MRI and ceMRN overview of the anatomical pathways of cranial nerves which NPC most involved.

The nasopharynx is the uppermost portion of the pharynx, begins at the posterior nasal choana and ends at the horizontal plane between the posterior edge of the hard palate and posterior pharyngeal wall. When nasopharyngeal carcinoma occurs, the primary tumor, lymph node metastases as well as intracranial and bone invasion and perineural tumor spread (PNS) needed to be evaluated. Once cranialnerves involved, it classified as T4 stage. PNS most commonly occurs in a contiguous retrograde fashion from the primary tumor toward the intracranial compartment. In...

Anatomy of the nasopharynx The nasopharynx is the uppermost portion of the pharynx, extending from the skull base to the soft palate ( Fig. 1, Fig. 2 ). Its limits are: Superior: the sloping base of the skull. Inferior: The soft palate, separating it from oropharynx. Posterior: The clivus and the two first cervical vertebrae. Anterior: Nasal cavity. Lateral: torus tubarius and Rosenmuller recessus Normal cranial nerves in ceMRN ceMRN can demonstrate the course, shape of extracranial branches of the cranial nerves, which presented high...

Take home points: When NPC occurs, it is pertinent to understand the local anatomy and potential pathways of spread due to the complexity of the surrounding structure. Once cranial nerves involved, NPC classified as T4 stage, which indicate poor prognosis. The advantage of ceMRN include it can provide additional information on PNS, such as course, enhancement pattern, signal intensity of the abnormal nerves. It can be used as a co-adjuvant tool for NPC staging and monitoring.

Feihong Wu, M.D. Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China [email protected] Lixia Wang, M.D., Ph.D. Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China [email protected] Wenjun Wu, M.D. Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China [email protected] Dongqiao Xiang, M.D. Department of Radiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China [email protected] Linyin Yan, M.D., Ph.D....

[1].Pan, J., et al., A Comparison Between the Chinese 2008 and the 7th Edition AJCC Staging Systems for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma. American Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2015. 38(2): p. 189-196. [2].Chua, M., et al., Nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Lancet, 2016. 387(10022): p. 1012-1024.