Malignant tumors of the pharynx

Background. Malignant tumors of the head and neck region are amongst the six most often occurring tumors of the body. They can be associated with the different anatomical compartments as well as different histologic types. The way of tumor spread of these malignancies depends on their histologic type and on the region. These compartments can be separated into the nasopharynx, the oropharynx, and the hypopharynx. Most of the malignant tumors belong to the squamous cell carcinomas, other histologic types are depicted less frequently. The histologic types of the other groups which are seen more often comprise lymphomas and adenoidcystic carcinomas. The undifferentiated carcinoma of the nasopharynx is supposed to be a special type of tumor. The malignant tumors of the pharynx can also involve all three compartments. Beside these tumors, malignancies of mesenchymal origin can also be delineated. Imaging modalities. The imaging modalities most frequently used to detect these tumors and to clarify their extension are contrast enhanced computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine imaging modalities such as positron emission tomography. Other scintigraphic imaging methods play a less important role. Conclusion. The different imaging modalities of malignant pharyngeal tumors and of potentially infiltrated lymphnodes with the weightness on computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging and their appearance in these imaging techniques shall be enhanced in this paper. (orig.)