Hilar lymph node metastasis

When lymphoma occurs in a person's body, it is not only caused by lesions in the lymph nodes themselves, but may also be caused by the metastasis of lesions from other parts of the body. For example, hilar lymph node metastasis is a common lymphoma metastasis, and this disease is most often caused by pulmonary tuberculosis. Because people who do not have relevant medical knowledge do not have a thorough understanding of hilar lymph node metastasis, it is very meaningful to understand the relevant knowledge about hilar lymph node metastasis.

Lymph node metastasis is the most common way of tumor metastasis. It refers to the phenomenon that infiltrating tumor cells pass through the wall of lymphatic vessels, fall off, and are carried to the confluence lymph nodes with the lymph fluid, and the same tumor grows around this center.

Transfer process

Lymph node metastasis usually first reaches the group of lymph nodes closest to the tumor (the first station), and then in turn to the ones farther away (the second and third stations). When the tumor cells infiltrate and grow at each station, they also spread to the adjacent lymph nodes in the same group. However, there are exceptions. Some patients can also metastasize directly to a group of lymph nodes farther away (the second or third station) by bypassing the lymph nodes in the short circuit. Clinically, this type of metastasis is called skip metastasis. For example, when cervical cancer metastasizes to the pelvic retroperitoneum and mediastinal lymph nodes without metastasis, the cervical lymph nodes will metastasize first.

In addition, metastasis may occur in the direction opposite to the lymphatic confluence, to the lymph nodes on the centrifugal side, which may be the result of obstruction of the lymphatic vessels in the downstream direction. For example, cervical cancer metastasizes to the intraperitoneal lymph nodes, and gastric cancer metastasizes to the medullary lymph nodes or intraperitoneal lymph nodes. These characteristics increase the complexity of tumor metastasis, resulting in some patients being diagnosed with metastatic cancer in the cervical lymph nodes but ultimately unable to find the primary lesion. This is a rather special problem when choosing treatment plans clinically, as the treatment time is sometimes delayed due to the search for the primary lesion, thus affecting the patient's prognosis.