Anatomical component of the throat, the pharynx is part of both the digestive system, as food passes through it, and the respiratory system, as it is also the place for the air to pass through.
Between the base of the skull, superiorly, and the 6th cervical vertebrae, inferiorly, the pharynx can be divided into 3 overlapping portions, whose names, starting from the superior, are: nasopharynx (or nasopharynx), oropharynx and hypopharynx (or laryngopharynx).
The pharynx plays a fundamental role in the digestive process and in the respiratory process; it also contributes to speech, to maintaining the right pressure inside the middle ear and to defending the organism from bacteria and viruses.
The pharynx is the protagonist of several medical conditions, including pharyngitis, throat cancer and enlarged adenoids.
and covered, superficially, by a layer of mucosa.
The muscles and mucosa present at the level of the pharynx represent the reason why the latter is defined with the expression "muscle-membranous duct".
Observed inside the human body, the anatomical tract constituting the pharynx begins at the base of the skull and ends at the height of the 6th cervical vertebra and the point where the cricoid cartilage takes place.
Based on an anatomical convention, which serves to facilitate its description, the pharynx can be divided into 3 superimposed sections, whose names are, starting from the top: nasopharynx (or nasopharynx), oropharynx and hypopharynx (or laryngopharynx).
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