The Pharynx

The adult pharynx is approximately 12 cm. in length and it extends as a tube from the base of the skull to C6 behind the nasal cavities (nasopharynx), the oral cavity (oropharynx) and the larynx (laryngo [or hypo] pharynx). It is widest at the base of the skull behind the Eustachian tube narrowing at the palate as the pharyngeal isthmus and then widening again before narrowing at the entrance to the oesophagus. Above the larynx the walls of the pharynx are not in contact but below the larynx they contact one another.