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Pharyngeal (adenoid) tonsil
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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The pharyngeal (adenoid) tonsil (tonsilla pharyngeals, s.adenoidea) is unpaired, located in the region of the arch and partly the posterior pharyngeal wall, between the right and left pharyngeal pockets (Roshenmuller fossae). In this place there are 4-6 transversely and obliquely oriented thick folds of the mucosa. Inside these folds is the lymphoid tissue of the pharyngeal tonsil. Sometimes these folds are very strongly expressed, so that they hang from the arch of the pharynx behind the khuans and touch the posterior edge of the septum of the nose, closing the nasal cavity with the pharynx. The folds of the median line of the pharyngeal arch are low and less thick. A more or less pronounced longitudinal furrow passes here. On the surface of the folds children have numerous small tubercles, in the depth of which there are accumulations of lymphoid tissue - lymphoid nodules. Between the folds there are various depths of open-cut furrows, in the lumens of which open the ducts of the mucous glands lying in the thickness of the folds. The free surface of the folds is covered with ciliated (multi-nuclear ciliated) epithelium. Under the epithelial cover in the diffuse lymphoid tissue are lymphoid nodules of the pharyngeal tonsil with a diameter of up to 0.8 mm, most of which have breeding centers. The connective tissue stroma of the amygdala is fused to the pharyngeal basilar pharynx of the pharynx.
The largest size of the amygdala reaches 8-20 years: its length in this period is 13-21 mm, and the width is 10-15 mm.
[Development and age specific features of the pharyngeal tonsil
The pharyngeal tonsil is laid on the 3-4th month of intrauterine life in the thickness of the mucous membrane of the nasal part of the pharynx. In the newborn, the amygdala is already well expressed - its dimensions are equal to 5-6 mm. In the future, the amygdala grows quite rapidly. By the end of the year its length reaches 6-10 mm. Lymphoid nodules in the amygdala appear on the 1st year of life. After 30 years, the amount of pharyngeal tonsil gradually decreases.
Vessels and nerves of pharyngeal tonsils
The pharyngeal tonsil is supplied with blood vessels from the branches of the ascending pharyngeal artery. Venous blood flows into the veins of the pharyngeal plexus. The tonsil receives nerve fibers from the branches of the facial, pharyngeal, vagus nerves and sympathetic fibers from the periarterial plexuses.