# Lymph node

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/lymph-node/  
OnCo record `lymph-node` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Small bean-shaped filters along the lymph vessels where immune cells gather. They are often the first place a cancer spreads, so surgeons check them to see how far the disease has gone.

## Summary

Lymph drains fluid from tissues back to the blood, passing through nodes where T and B cells inspect it for infection; cancer cells that enter lymph vessels lodge in the nearest nodes first, so node involvement (the N in TNM) is a central marker of a cancer's tendency to spread and raises the stage. Sentinel-node biopsy identifies and removes only the first node or two that drain a tumour, sparing patients the arm swelling (lymphoedema) that removing all nodes causes. Lymph nodes are also where immune responses against a tumour are launched, and where immunotherapy needs functioning T cells to be primed.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: lymph nodes; lymph-node; lymph-nodes; node-positive; node-negative; nodal; nodal involvement; nodal disease; lymphatic; lymphatics; lymphatic system; sentinel lymph node; sentinel node; axillary nodes; regional nodes; regional lymph nodes

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph_node
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph_node

## Connected records

- terms: [Extranodal extension (ENE)](https://onco.cc/terms/extranodal-extension/), [Immune system](https://onco.cc/terms/immune-system/), [Lymphoma (tissue type)](https://onco.cc/terms/lymphoma-type/), [Metastasis](https://onco.cc/terms/metastasis/), [Stage](https://onco.cc/terms/cancer-stage/), [T cell](https://onco.cc/terms/t-cell/), [TNM staging](https://onco.cc/terms/tnm-staging/)
- technologies: [Sentinel lymph node biopsy](https://onco.cc/technologies/sentinel-node/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/lymph-node.json