Lea Alhilali, MD Profile picture
Feb 10, 2023 17 tweets 9 min read Read on X
1/To be or not 2b?? That is the question!

Do you have questions about how to remember cervical lymph node anatomy & levels?

Here’s a #tweetorial to show you how--#Superbowl weekend edition!
#medtwitter #meded #neurorad #HNrad #FOAMed #FOAMrad #radres #radtwitter #ENT #radiology
2/Google cervical lymph node anatomy & you always get this anatomic picture w/the head flung back like a model posing.

But unless you live in LA, your patients don’t look like this & understanding anatomy from this image is difficult
3/First, you need to know how lymph node drainage works in the neck.

Nodes drain like rivers—smaller streams drain into larger rivers.

In the neck, there are outer circle nodes (peripheral) & inner circle nodes—both drain into the large river of the deep cervical nodes
4/Think of it like football. Teams are in 2 different conferences like the NFL (outer circle & inner circle, like NFC & AFC). They’re separate, but eventually meet in the end at the Superbowl! Internal jugular nodes are the superbowl where inner & outer circle drainage meet
5/First are submental nodes (menton=chin in French), so they’re behind the chin. They’re the nodes between the anterior bellies of the digastric below the floor of mouth.

The space between the anterior bellies looks like a capital A—so you can remember 1A lives in an A space
6/Even on axial CT slices, the space between the anterior bellies looks like an A. So if you see a node inside this A, you know its 1A!
7/Next are submandibular nodes. They start where 1A ends—from the anterior digastric belly laterally to the mandible/platysma

They circle around the submandibular gland—hence the name

This space along the edge, circling around the submandibular gland looks like a lower-case b
8/On axial CT, you can see how this space makes a lower-case b:

Running straight along the mandible before circling around to encompass the submandibular gland.
9/Next are upper jugular nodes.

Behind the submandibular gland, these are sandwiched between the medial carotid and medial border of the sternocleidomastoid.

Bread is SCM and medial carotid. Sandwich filling is the lymph nodes
10/Level 2 is divided in 2. It’s divided into 2a & 2b at a plane along the posterior jugular vein—like cutting a sandwich in half

It’s easy to remember the jugular as the dividing landmark b/c if you’re cutting in someone’s neck—well, some might say you’re going for the JUGULAR
11/The dividing line is actually the accessory nerve—remember this b/c knives are a table accessory!

But we can’t see the accessory nerve on conventional images, so the post. jugular is used as a surrogate

If the node is inseparable from the posterior IJ, then it’s still 2a
12/Jugulodigastic is the highest level 2 node. Some call it the sentinel node bc it’s the 1st deep node to see drainage from nose & mouth

Bc it sees so many antigens as a result, it may act like a sentinel & overreact (get enlarged). So we give it leeway & let it get upto 1.5cm
13/Levels 3 & 4 are the same sandwich space as level 2 (between medial carotid & medial SCM), but just lower down in the neck.

Think of them like a stacked parfait—all the same space, just different levels in the neck. Calvarium is the cherry on top!
14/ 3 landmarks divide the sandwich space into its 3 levels: C1, hyoid, & cricoid:

C1 is the first landmark bc it’s number 1!

Hyoid comes next b/c the hy-oid is hi-gher than the cricoid

Cricoid is last—remember, cri-coid cri-es. You cry w/the larynx which is lower in the neck
15/Next are posterior triangle nodes. These are behind level 2, between posterior SCM & trapezius

I think this area looks like a mullet on the back of the neck

I remember level 5 is in the mullet bc mullets are business in the front, during the day, & party after 5! 5 = mullet
16/Next are central compartment nodes.

These encompass two central nodes: anterior jugular in the front & paratracheal in the back.

A backwards number 6 outlines these regions, with its circle coming around the back of the thyroid where paratracheal nodes lie.
17/So now you know how to remember the main lymph node levels in the neck.

You will never again have to ask the question “2b or not 2b?!”

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More from @teachplaygrub

Aug 1
1/They say form follows function!

Brain MRI anatomy is best understood in terms of both form & function.

Here’s a short thread to help you to remember important functional brain anatomy--so you truly can clinically correlate! Image
2/Let’s start at the top. At the vertex is the superior frontal gyrus. This is easy to remember, bc it’s at the top—and being at the top is superior. It’s like the superior king at the top of the vertex. Image
3/It is also easy to recognize on imaging. It looks like a big thumb pointing straight up out of the brain. I always look for that thumbs up when I am looking for the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) Image
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Jul 29
1/Talk about bad blood!

Do you know when a hematoma is going to expand?

Read on for month’s @theAJNR SCANtastic on all you need to know about imaging intracranial hemorrhage!

ajnr.org/content/46/7/1…Image
@TheAJNR 2/Everyone knows about the spot sign for intracranial hemorrhage

It’s when arterial contrast is seen within a hematoma on CTA, indicating active
extravasation of contrast into the hematoma.

But what if you want to know before the CTA? Image
@TheAJNR 3/Turns out there are non-contrast head CT signs that a hematoma may expand that perform similarly to the spot sign—and together can be very accurate.

How can you remember what they are? Image
Read 9 tweets
Jul 25
1/Time to go with the flow!

Hoping no one notices you don’t know the anatomy of internal carotid (ICA)?

Do you say “carotid siphon” & hope no one asks for more detail?

Here’s a thread to help you siphon off some information about ICA anatomy! Image
2/ICA is like a staircase—winding up through important anatomic regions like a staircase winding up to each floor Lobby is the neck.

First floor is skullbase/carotid canal. Next it stops at the cavernous sinus, before finally reaching the rooftop balcony of the intradural space.Image
3/ICA is divided into numbered segments based on landmarks that denote transitions on its way up the floors.

C1 is in the lobby or neck.

You can remember this b/c the number 1 looks elongated & straight like a neck. Image
Read 10 tweets
Jul 23
1/My hardest thread yet! Are you up for the challenge?

How stroke perfusion imaging works!

Ever wonder why it’s Tmax & not Tmin?

Do you not question & let RAPID read the perfusion for you? Not anymore! Image
2/Perfusion imaging is based on one principle: When you inject CT or MR intravenous contrast, the contrast flows w/blood & so contrast can be a surrogate marker for blood.

This is key, b/c we can track contrast—it changes CT density or MR signal so we can see where it goes. Image
3/So if we can track how contrast gets to the tissue (by changes in CT density or MR signal), then we can approximate how BLOOD is getting to the tissue.

And how much blood is getting to the tissue is what perfusion imaging is all about. Image
Read 18 tweets
Jul 21
1/Do you know all the aspects of, well, ASPECTS?

Many know the anterior circulation stroke scoring system—but posterior circulation (pc) ASPECTS is often left behind

25% of infarcts are posterior circulation

Do you know pc-ASPECTS?!

Here’s how to remember pc-ASPECTS! Image
2/Many know anterior circulation ASPECTS.

It uses a 10-point scoring system to semi-quantitation the amount of the MCA territory infarcted on non-contrast head CT

If you need a review: here’s my thread on ASPECTS: Image
3/But it’s only useful for the anterior circulation.

Posterior circulation accounts for ~25% of infarcts.

Even w/recanalization, many of these pts do poorly bc of the extent of already infarcted tissue.

So there’s a need to quantitate the amount of infarcted tissue in these ptsImage
Read 12 tweets
Jul 2
1/The medulla is anything but DULL!

Does seeing an infarct in the medulla cause your heart to skip a beat?

Does medullary anatomy send you into respiratory arrest?

Never fear, here is a thread on the major medullary syndromes! Image
2/The medulla is like a toll road.

Everything going down into the cord must pass through the medulla & everything from the cord going back up to the brain must too.

That’s a lot of tracts for a very small territory. Luckily you don’t need to know every tract Image
3/Medulla has 4 main vascular territories, spread out like a fan: anteromedial, anterolateral, lateral, and posterior.

You don’t need to remember their names, just the territory they cover—and I’ll show you how Image
Read 18 tweets

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