adenitis

Inflammation of the lymphatic glands. It may be either acute or chronic. As a rule, adenitis is a symptom of some disease process within the area of the body that is drained by the lymphatic channels in which the affected lymphatic glands are situated.

In acute adenitis the disease is usually an infected wound or sore, the invading micro-organisms being carried away by the lymphatics and trapped in the glands, where, in turn, they set up inflammation, causing enlargement of the gland, and sometimes suppuration. Chronic adenitis may be due to a chronic infection, such as tuberculosis. Lymphatic glands are also the seat of secondary cancer, the malignant growth cells being carried along the lymphatic channels from the primary cancer. Lymphadenoma or Hodgkin's disease also causes enlargement of the lymphatic glands.