A longitudinal study of the development of the posterior nasopharyngeal wall between 3 and 16 years of age

The sagittal growth of the posterior nasopharyngeal wall between the ages of 3 and 16 was studied on lateral cephalograms of 49 children taken at random from the longitudinal material collected at King's College Hospital, London. None of the children had had adenoidectomy. Percentile distance curves showed that: the thickness of the soft tissue on the posterior nasopharyngeal wall is largest at 5 years and subsequently decreases to 10 years of age. There is a slight increase between 10 and 11 years of age and then the decrease continues. The sagittal nasopharyngeal airway is narrowest at 5 years of age, increasing between 5 and 10 and then after 11 years of age. The lymphoid tissue on the posterior nasopharyngeal wall does not follow Scammon's curve of the lymphoid tissue of appendix, spleen and thymus.