Cervical lymphadenopathy
Many readers asked us to find that the lymph nodes on our neck are swollen. Did you get cancer? Here, Xiaobian told everyone not to panic. It is necessary to take a reasonable view of cervical lymphadenopathy. In fact, cervical lymphadenopathy is a common surgical clinic. One of the common reasons for the diagnosis. Cervical lymphadenopathy is very common, most of the cervical lymphadenopathy is caused by inflammation, only a small part is related to the tumor.
First, go to the hospital for treatment, and provide the medical history to the clinician. The doctor will check the body and diagnose whether it is swollen or not. (Note: Some patients may treat the normal submandibular gland as a swollen lymph node).
Avoid
Do not take antibiotics without your doctor's advice. Some lymph nodes are swollen, antibiotics are not effective, and there is a risk of causing allergies and masking the condition.
After the examination, the clinician will analyze the patient's condition and examination data to make a reasonable treatment.
Cervical lymphadenopathy can be roughly divided into two categories: one is inflammation, and the other is tumor.
Inflammation is divided into general inflammation and specific inflammation. General inflammation includes acute lymphadenitis and chronic lymphadenitis.
Acute lymphadenitis is often accompanied by oral infections, head and face skin and upper respiratory tract infections. It is characterized by localized lymphadenopathy, localized skin congestion, swelling, and suppurative infections often accompanied by systemic symptoms such as fever, headache, fatigue, appetite. Decreased, the proportion of blood leukocytes and neutrophils increased.
For this type of lymph node enlargement, mainly anti-infective treatment, if local suppuration should be opened and pus, and active treatment of the primary tumor leading to swollen lymph node infection.
Chronic lymphadenitis is caused by chronic infections such as the head and neck, oral cavity, long-term lymphadenopathy, mostly asymptomatic cervical lymphadenopathy, and some may have local tenderness.
This lymph node is mostly soft in the absence of acute inflammation, and the active lymph nodes, once reduced by systemic resistance, turn into acute inflammation, and the condition can recur.
The enlarged lymph nodes of chronic reactive hyperplasia generally do not need treatment. When acute infection occurs, they can be treated according to acute lymphadenitis. The author of anti-recurrence should carefully search for the cause and carry out reasonable treatment to avoid repeated attacks.
The most common type of neck-specific infection with lymphadenitis is cervical lymph node tuberculosis, common in young adults and children, often with a history of tuberculosis or exposure.
Swelling lymph nodes can be single or multiple, slowly increasing, no obvious pain or tenderness. When the lymph nodes are necrotic, lymph node softening can occur, but there is no general swelling of heat and swelling.
When combined with purulent infection, its performance is similar to general purulent infection. The treatment of cervical lymphatic tuberculosis is mainly based on systemic therapy, supplemented by local treatment.
When the drug treatment is not satisfactory, and the local can be removed, surgery can be considered. The surgical procedure is tuberculosis removal. In combination with purulent infection, abscess incision and drainage should be performed.
4. Tumor lymph node enlargement is mainly divided into two types: lymph node metastasis and lymphoma. Cervical lymph node metastasis is caused by tumor metastasis outside the neck or neck.
The head and neck lymph nodes mainly receive lymphatic drainage from the head and neck organs, and also receive lymphatic drainage from the chest, abdomen, pelvis and extremities.
The organs adjacent to the head and neck are mainly thyroid, throat, etc. In recent years, due to the increasing incidence of thyroid cancer, cervical lymph node metastasis is also very common.
3. Carcinoma of the cervical lymph node metastasis can be characterized by single or multiple lymph nodes, hard texture, and advanced lymph nodes can be fused.
At present, many thyroid cancers are microscopic cancers found by ultrasound examination during physical examination, which lack clinical symptoms, but the rate of lymph node metastasis is very high.
Therefore, patients with cervical lymphadenopathy should pay special attention to the thyroid examination, pay attention to whether the neck lymphadenopathy is related to the thyroid gland.
For cervical lymph node metastases, mainly for the treatment of primary diseases. Such as thyroid cancer with cervical lymph node metastasis, radical thyroidectomy, central lymph node dissection or lateral lymph node dissection.
Another type of neoplastic lymphadenopathy is lymphoma. Lymphoma originates from lymph nodes or other lymphoid tissues and is classified into Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is characterized by painless lymphadenopathy in the neck or clavicle. It can also involve deep (such as mediastinum, retroperitoneal) lymph nodes. Because the tonsils, nasal cavity, and sinus are good sites, patients may be accompanied. Nasopharyngeal symptoms, organ compression symptoms such as dysphagia and dyspnea may occur later.
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma may also affect the gastrointestinal tract, bone marrow and central nervous system, with corresponding symptoms and signs.
The gold standard for lymphoma diagnosis is pathological diagnosis, including ultrasound-guided lymph node puncture and lymph node biopsy. The latter can obtain intact lymph nodes, which is more meaningful for diagnosis and typing.
In addition to the above two types of lymphadenopathy, there is a rare type of lymphadenopathy, such as giant lymph node hyperplasia, necrotizing lymphadenitis.
Among them, giant lymph node hyperplasia can be expressed as a very large lymph node, but not a tumor. For such lymph node enlargement, it needs to be differentiated from tumor and lymphatic tuberculosis.
Analysis of the causes and treatment principles of cervical lymphadenopathy, it is not difficult to understand, why patients go to the hospital for treatment, see the general surgery clinic, doctors also recommend to the relevant departments, such as otolaryngology, stomatology, hematology and other departments consultation Usually, there are many reasons for cervical lymphadenopathy. It requires careful and comprehensive examination and comprehensive analysis to make a correct diagnosis and reasonable treatment.
