On [Ask the Doctor], a friend came to me very worried and asked me: I felt some nodules on both sides of my neck, armpit or inner thigh. The doctor said it was lymph nodes. Can I have cancer? I heard that cancer is in the advanced stage when it reaches lymph nodes. I am so scared…
However, swollen lymph nodes are still good or bad.
The beacon tower of the body
Human beings are covered with blood and lymph.
As we all know, blood is to deliver [food] to all parts of the body and ensure that all organs and tissues of the body have energy to function normally. If there is a heart problem and blood stops, people cannot live at all.
What does lymph do? Lymph nodes are like a beacon tower.
Lymph node is a kind of immune organ, the whole body [beacon tower] is interlinked, they communicate with each other by [lymph]. Lymph sometimes carries bacteria, viruses and tumor cells. When lymph passes through lymph node, 99% of bacteria are removed, but viruses and tumor cells are difficult to remove.
In addition to this [lymph filtering] work, there are two types of important soldiers in the [beacon tower]-lymphocytes, one is T cells accounting for 3/4, the other is B cells, which participate in human immunity.
Why is enlarged lymph node good or bad?
Some people will touch swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit and inner thigh. Lymph nodes in the lungs and stomachs can only be known by CT or B-ultrasound.
Why is lymph node swelling swollen? It may be because the lymph nodes themselves have more cells or because they are occupied by tumor cells.
- Benign swelling: caused by various infections, is what doctors often say [inflammatory lymph nodes]. There are also swelling caused by connective tissue and allergy. Malignant swelling: also known as [cancer metastasis]. Neck swelling caused by nasopharyngeal carcinoma, lymphoma, etc., axillary metastasis of breast cancer, hilar metastasis of lung cancer, etc. are well known.
How do you know whether swollen lymph nodes are good or bad?
In clinical work, doctors’ hands, especially experienced doctors, can basically determine the benign and malignant lymph nodes by touching the swollen lymph nodes. This is because benign and malignant lymph nodes have their own manifestations.
- Benign enlargement: It feels softer, lymph nodes move well in the tissue, There is no adhesion to the surrounding tissues, And the size may be the size of a mung bean (generally within 0.5 cm in diameter, Not more than 1 cm). Especially in the acute phase of inflammatory infection, There are red, swollen, hot and painful manifestations. Malignant swelling: feels hard, poor mobility, feels uneven, relatively full, and the surrounding tissue adhesion is more severe, and some volume is relatively large. Generally, the lymph nodes that can be touched by hands are at least the size of peanuts. If you can see swelling, it shows that lymph node swelling is already very obvious.
Of course, this is only based on experience, not necessarily accurate. If doctors think it is necessary, they will take some tissues from lymph nodes and put them under a microscope to make a definite diagnosis, which is called [lymph node biopsy].
[Beacon Tower] Alarm at Different Positions, Predict Cancer at Different Positions
After the enlarged lymph node is determined to be malignant, we can follow through and find out where the tumor may occur according to its location. Common locations of lymph node enlargement include:
- Neck: possible head and neck swelling tumor such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Axillary: breast cancer. Left supraclavicular: gastric cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer. Right supraclavicular: lung cancer, esophageal cancer. Inguinal (thigh root): cervical cancer, testicular cancer, rectal cancer.
Lymphoma and leukemia, lymph all over the body can show swelling.
If swollen lymph nodes are found on the body surface, you must seek medical treatment in time and ask the doctor to touch it. When the doctor is not sure, he will apply for B-ultrasound.
Smart human tissues have designed such a [beacon tower] for us to monitor diseases, which must be paid attention to!