Table 4.

The correlation between key anatomic structure and other anatomic structures along the same pathway

Spearman correlation test of anatomic sites within the same path, significance level (p value)
Pathway	Key structure	Neighboring structures
Anterior extension		Posterior Nasal cavity	Pterygoid process	Pterygopalatine fossa	Foramen rotundum	Cavernous sinus	Orbit
	Inferior orbital fissure	0.000*	0.031*	0.000*	0.000*	0.012*	0.232
		Posterior Nasal cavity	Pterygoid process	Pterygopalatine fossa	Inferior orbital fissure	Cavernous sinus	Orbit
	Foramen rotundum	0.001*	0.012*	0.000*	0.000*	0.026*	0.308
		Posterior Nasal cavity	Pterygoid process	Foramen rotundum	Inferior orbital fissure	Cavernous sinus	Orbit
	Pterygopalatine fossa	0.000*	0.000*	0.000*	0.000*	0.238	0.737
		Posterior Nasal cavity	Sphenoid sinus	Anterior ethmoid sinus
	Posterior ethmoid sinus	0.001*	0.012*	0.000*
Superior extension		Bottom of sphenoid sinus	Clivus	Petrous apex	Cavernous sinus
	Foramen lacerum	0.001*	0.000*	0.008*	0.875
Lateral extension		Levator veli palatine muscle	Tensor veli palatine muscle	Parapharyngeal Space	Medial pterygoid muscle	Cavernous sinus
	Foramen ovale	0.562	0.136	0.547	0.031*	0.026*
		Levator veli palatine muscle	Tensor veli palatine muscle	Retropharyngeal lymph node	Parapharyngeal Space
	Jugular Foramen	0.031*	0.058	0.001*	0.000*
		Medial pterygoid muscle	Pterygoid process
	Lateral pterygoid muscle	0.003*	0.075
Posterior extension		Prevertebral muscle	Clivus	Jugular Foramen
	Hypoglossal canal	0.105	0.000*	0.000*

*p < 0.05, indicated significant correlation