Superficial popliteal nodes

At a glance

English

Superficial popliteal nodes

Latin (TA2)

Nodi poplitei superficiales

System

Lymphatic

Region

Lower limb

Side

Paired, left and right

About the superficial popliteal nodes

The superficial popliteal nodes are a small group, often a single node, in the popliteal fossa, the diamond-shaped hollow behind the knee. They lie in the superficial tissue at the point where the small saphenous vein pierces the popliteal fascia to join the popliteal vein. Deeper in the fossa, around the popliteal artery and vein, lie the deep popliteal nodes.

The small saphenous vein runs up the back of the calf from behind the lateral malleolus, and the superficial lymph vessels from the outer side of the foot and the back and outer side of the leg travel with it. These are the vessels that end in the superficial popliteal nodes. Lymph from the rest of the superficial foot and leg, by contrast, follows the great saphenous vein up the inner side of the limb to the superficial inguinal nodes and bypasses the knee.

From these nodes, lymph passes into the deep popliteal nodes and then upwards with the femoral vessels, through the adductor hiatus and the adductor canal, to the deep inguinal nodes in the groin.

These nodes are small and hard to feel in health, partly because the popliteal fascia is tight when the knee is straight; they are best examined with the knee slightly bent. They may enlarge with infections of the heel, the outer border of the foot or the calf. Skin cancers on the back of the calf or the heel, including melanoma, can spread here, so the popliteal fossa is examined as well as the groin.

Course and drainage

Begins at

Afferent vessels running with the small saphenous vein from the outer edge of the foot, the heel and the posterolateral leg.

Drains into

Efferent vessels pass to the deep popliteal nodes, then follow the femoral vessels through the adductor hiatus to the deep inguinal nodes.

Drains

Filters lymph from the outer foot and back of the calf. Enlargement may follow infection of the heel or outer foot, and these nodes can hold spread from melanoma or other skin cancers of the calf and heel.