Quick Facts
Location: Surrounding the internal jugular vein.
Drainage: The tongue, pharynx, and palatine tonsils, and most of the areas of the head as lymphatic fluid collected proximally returns to the circulation via these vessels.
Direction of Flow: Jugular trunk > thoracic duct (left) or right lymphatic duct.
Related parts of the anatomy
Description
The internal jugular vessels and nodes surround the internal jugular vein. They are divided into two groups, anterior and lateral. The anterior nodes are most notably the jugulodigastric and juguloomohyoid nodes, both usually implicated in throat or tonsil pathologies. They are ubiquitously present and form two separate networks of vessels that both drain independently into the lateral jugular chain. Lateral nodes are less formally arranged and are usually scattered posterolateral to the internal jugular vein (Földi et al., 2012).
References
Földi, M., Földi, E., Strößenreuther, R. and Kubik, S. (2012) Földi's Textbook of Lymphology: for Physicians and Lymphedema Therapists. Elsevier Health Sciences.
