What causes swollen neck lymph nodes in a child?
Patient: my son is 5 years old and has swollen lymphnodes in is neck and all are less then a centimeter and are soft and movable. My doctor has asked to get a chest xray and really has no definete reason or cause for them. He has told me that it should be nothing to worry about but i cannot help but worry but i do trust what my doctor says! My son does not complain of any pain and is a healthy spunky 5 year old boy, he does need some dental work done just waiting to get in to see dentist so i just wondered could this maybe have somthing to do with these swollen lymphnodes or just any answers from you at all, thank you Doctor: Hello. Thanks for asking on Healthcaremagic. I am a pathologist and deal with swollen lymph nodes in my patients daily. From your description it seems that the lymph nodes are small less than 1cm and soft and mobile. Usually most common causes are reactive lymphadenitis. In this case any infection in the area of drainage of the lymph nodes will lead to antigen being trapped in the nodes causing an immune response leading to enlargement. Usually it is not of any concern and subsides on its own. Causes could be as simple as dental caries, tonsillitis or pharyngitis, ear infections etc. Sometimes cause of reactive lymphadenitis is not found. Other causes could be a serious chest infection which is ruled out by x Ray in your case. Other rare causes could be a lymphoma or cancer in which lymph nodes are larger and harder in size and not mobile. All these diagnoses can be easily made with a fine needle aspiration cytology test in which a pathologist inserts a needle into the swelling and obtains few cells to be stained and seen under a microscope. However children might find the procedure scary and a bit painful and representative material might not come in small swellings in children. So I suggest you to wait for some time and if it doesn't resolve or grows in size then do a fine needle procedure. Thanks.