RIGHT LYMPHATIC DUCT AND CISTERNA CHYLI

Drains lymph from body’s right upper quadrant and right side of the head, neck, thorax and the right upper limb

Course At the root of the neck, it enters the

junction of the right internal jugular and right subclavian veins, the right venous angle

RIGHT LYMPHATIC DUCT

If present, is about 0.5 in. (1.3 cm) long

Fate Opens into the beginning of the right

brachiocephalic vein

Alternatively, the trunks open independently into the great veins at the root of the neck

Right Lymphatic Duct

Right Lymphatic Duct: Area of Supply

Right Lymphatic Duct

Cisterna Chyli

An enlarged lymphatic vessel About 6 centimeters long Located in the lumbar region of the

abdominal cavity, just to the right of the abdominal aorta

Receives and temporarily stores lymph as it travels upward from the lower portion of the body.

Cisterna Chyli

The lymphatic trunks draining the lower half of the body merge in the abdomen

Sometimes forming a dilated sac, the cisterna chyli

From this sac, the thoracic duct ascends into and then through thorax to enter the left venous angle

Cisterna chyli

Cisterna chyli

Cisterna chyli

Cisterna Chyli can mimic the appearance of an enlarged retrocrural (a triangular region within the mediastinum, middle section of chest cavity) lymph node

Proper identification depends on its characteristic location, tubular configuration, attenuation (less harmful) closer to that of water than soft tissue, and lack of substantial change in size despite changes in disease at other sites

Clinical Significance