Coeliac nodes
Nodi coeliaci
Preaortic lymph nodes around the coeliac trunk, collecting lymph from the foregut organs of the upper abdomen.
At a glance
- English
- Coeliac nodes
- Latin (TA2)
- Nodi coeliaci
- System
- Lymphatic
- Region
- Trunk
- Side
- Single, on the midline
About the coeliac nodes
The coeliac nodes lie around the coeliac trunk, the short, wide artery that leaves the front of the abdominal aorta just below the aortic hiatus of the diaphragm, at about the level of the twelfth thoracic vertebra. They belong to the preaortic group of nodes and sit above the upper border of the pancreas, behind the lesser sac and the stomach.
The coeliac trunk divides almost at once into the left gastric, common hepatic and splenic arteries. Each of these is followed by its own chain of nodes, such as the left gastric, hepatic and splenic nodes, and these chains all converge on the coeliac group. The coeliac plexus of autonomic nerves surrounds the trunk and lies among the nodes.
The nodes act as a second filter for the organs supplied by the coeliac trunk: the stomach, the upper duodenum, the pancreas, the spleen, and the liver with its gallbladder. Lymph reaches them after first passing through the nodes nearer each organ. Their outflow forms part of the intestinal trunk, together with that of the superior mesenteric nodes, and the rest passes directly into the cisterna chyli.
Coeliac nodes matter in the staging of cancers of the stomach, the lower oesophagus and the pancreas, and they are removed in the more extensive operations for gastric cancer. Enlarged coeliac nodes can be seen on CT or by endoscopic ultrasound. Because the coeliac plexus is so close, a tumour growing in this area can cause severe upper abdominal and back pain.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Afferent vessels from the left gastric, hepatic, splenic and pancreatic nodes, carrying lymph from the stomach, upper duodenum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas and spleen.
- Drains into
- Efferent vessels join the intestinal trunk or pass directly to the cisterna chyli.
- Drains
- Second filter for the stomach, liver, biliary tract, pancreas and spleen. Key in staging and surgery for stomach, oesophageal and pancreatic cancer.
Anthromica
See the coeliac nodes where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
