Quick Facts
Location: Following the course of the inferior portion of the accessory nerve in the posterior triangle of the neck.
Drainage: The skin covering occipital, retroauricular, and parietal areas of the scalp, skin on the lateral and posterior neck and shoulder, oropharynx, nasopharynx, and thyroid gland.
Direction of Flow: Subclavicular nodes > jugular trunk > thoracic duct (left) or right lymphatic duct.
Related parts of the anatomy
Description
The accessory lymph vessels are so named due to their close anatomical relationship with the inferior portion of the accessory nerve in the posterior triangle of the neck. There are a series of nodes associated with these vessels. Nodes that are located at the meeting point of the accessory and jugular chains, just beneath the proximal part of sternocleidomastoid, are called sternocleidomastoid nodes. Conversely, those found at the meeting point of the accessory and subclavicular chains, tucked beneath the trapezius muscle, are called the subtrapezius nodes (Földi et al., 2012; Koroulakis and Agarwal, 2018).
Lymph fluid collected in the occipital and mastoid nodes will have efferents to the accessory chain, thus collecting lymph fluid from the skin overlying the occipital, parietal, and retroauricular areas. In addition, these nodes will have afferents to local tissues including the lateral and posterior neck and shoulder and some deeper structures in the neck, such as the oropharynx, nasopharynx, and thyroid gland (Koroulakis et al., 2018).
References
Földi, M., Földi, E., Strößenreuther, R. and Kubik, S. (2012) Földi's Textbook of Lymphology: for Physicians and Lymphedema Therapists. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Koroulakis, A. and Agarwal, M. (2018) Anatomy, Head and Neck, Lymph Nodes.: Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing (Accessed: 12 July 2019).
