Left colic nodes
Nodi colici sinistri
Lymph nodes lying along the left colic artery behind the peritoneum, draining the descending colon and the left colic flexure.
At a glance
- English
- Left colic nodes
- Latin (TA2)
- Nodi colici sinistri
- System
- Lymphatic
- Region
- Trunk
- Side
- Single, on the midline
About the left colic nodes
The colon is drained by nodes that follow its arteries in a set order: paracolic nodes on the bowel wall, intermediate nodes along the named colic arteries, and main nodes at the origin of the parent artery. The left colic nodes are the intermediate group of the left side, set along the left colic artery, the first branch of the inferior mesenteric artery.
The left colic artery runs up and to the left behind the peritoneum of the posterior abdominal wall, crossing the left ureter and psoas major, before dividing into branches for the descending colon and the left colic flexure. The nodes are scattered along this course and along its ascending and descending branches, so they lie on the posterior wall rather than in a mesentery.
They receive lymph from the paracolic nodes of the descending colon and the left colic flexure, and from the left end of the transverse colon. Lymph leaving them passes down and inward to the inferior mesenteric nodes around the root of the inferior mesenteric artery, and from there to the pre-aortic nodes and the intestinal trunk.
In cancer of the descending colon or the splenic flexure, these nodes are the second station after the paracolic group. Resection for such a tumour removes the colon with its blood supply and the nodes alongside, and the number of nodes involved is a key part of staging and of the decision about further treatment.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Efferent vessels of the paracolic nodes of the descending colon and left colic flexure, with some from the left part of the transverse colon.
- Drains into
- Efferent vessels pass to the inferior mesenteric nodes, then to the pre-aortic nodes and the intestinal trunk.
- Drains
- Drain lymph from the left side of the colon. They are an early station for colon cancer of the left flexure and descending colon, so they are removed with the bowel and counted in staging.
Anthromica
See the left colic 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.
