Right colic nodes

At a glance

English

Right colic nodes

Latin (TA2)

Nodi colici dextri

System

Lymphatic

Region

Trunk

Side

Single, on the midline

About the right colic nodes

The right colic nodes are an intermediate group of the superior mesenteric nodes. They follow the right colic artery, a branch of the superior mesenteric artery that runs to the right across the posterior abdominal wall towards the ascending colon, where it divides into ascending and descending branches. The artery is inconstant and may arise from the ileocolic or middle colic artery instead.

The vessel and its nodes lie behind the parietal peritoneum, in front of the right kidney, the right ureter and the second and third parts of the duodenum. The nodes are scattered along the artery between the paracolic nodes on the inner border of the colon and the main nodes at the root of the superior mesenteric artery.

They receive lymph from the paracolic nodes of the ascending colon and the right colic flexure. Lymph leaving them follows the artery inward to the superior mesenteric nodes, then to the pre-aortic group and the intestinal trunk, which empties into the cisterna chyli.

Cancer of the ascending colon spreads along this pathway, and a right hemicolectomy removes the colon together with the right colic and ileocolic vessels and their nodes. Because the duodenum and the right ureter lie just behind, the surgeon lifts the colon and its nodes forward off these structures in a single layer, keeping the plane behind intact.

Course and drainage

Begins at

Efferent vessels of the paracolic nodes of the ascending colon and the right colic flexure.

Drains into

Efferent vessels run to the superior mesenteric nodes, then to the pre-aortic nodes and the intestinal trunk.

Drains

Drain the ascending colon and the right flexure. They are the second station for cancer of the right colon and are removed with the bowel in a right hemicolectomy, guiding staging.