Mediastinal & hilar lymph nodes

Looks like

Nodes scattered between the heart, windpipe and gullet, in the middle of the chest.

What it does

Filter lymph from the lungs, heart and gullet.

Keeping it well

Nothing routine; enlarged here, they are sampled to stage lung cancer or to find sarcoidosis.

Its parts

• Mediastinal lymph nodes
• Parietal thoracic lymph nodes
• Pulmonary lymph nodes

Related conditions

• Sarcoidosis
• Silicosis and coal workers' pneumoconiosis