The human body is amazing. I have lost a third of my nodes. Not that long ago they would take them all. Now they only take what they have to and a few more. Technology is wonderful.
There are between 600-700 lymph nodes present in the average human body. It is the role of these nodes to filter the lymph before it can be returned to the circulatory system. Although these nodes can increase or decrease in size throughout life, any nodes that has been damaged or destroyed, does not regenerate.
- Afferent lymphatic vessels carry unfiltered lymph into the node. Here waste products, and some of the fluid, are filtered out.
- In another section of the node, lymphocytes, which are specialized white blood cells, kill any pathogens that may be present. This causes the swelling commonly known as swollen glands.
- Lymph nodes also trap and destroy cancer cells to slow the spread of the cancer until they are overwhelmed by it.
- Efferent lymphatic vessels carry the filtered lymph out of the node so that it can continue its return to the circulatory system.
The Flow of Lymph Through the Lymph nodes
As lymph flows through the node it is filtered. Cleansed lymph returns to the circulatory system.
Filtrates that have been removed in the node are destroyed.
Drainage areas
Lymphatic drainage is organization into two separate and very unequal drainage areas. These are the right and left drainage areas and normally lymph does not drain across the invisible lines that separate these areas. Structures within each area carry lymph to its destination, which is to return to the circulatory system.
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