Adenoid
Location of the adenoid
MeSH	Adenoids
Dorlands/Elsevier	t_13/12812454

Adenoids (or pharyngeal tonsils, or nasopharyngeal tonsils) are a mass of lymphoid tissue situated at the very back of the nose, in the roof of the nasopharynx, where the nose blends into the mouth. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 418 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (600 × 861 pixel, file size: 115 KB, MIME type: image/png) Adenoid marked in image:Gray994. ... Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. ... Elseviers logo. ... In mammals including humans, the lymphatic vessels (or lymphatics) are a network of thin tubes that branch, like blood vessels, into tissues throughout the body. ... The pharynx is the part of the digestive system of many animals immediately behind the mouth and in front of the esophagus. ... For the article about nose in humans, see human nose Human nose in profile Elephants have prehensile noses Dogs have very sensitive noses Anatomically, a nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which admit and expel air for respiration. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with mouth (human). ...

Normally, in children, they make a soft mound in the roof and posterior wall of the nasopharynx, just above and behind the uvula. A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ... The pharynx is the part of the digestive system of many animals immediately behind the mouth and in front of the esophagus. ... The uvula (IPA: ) is a small, mucosa-covered set of muscles, musculus uvulae, hanging down from the soft palate, near the back of the throat. ...

Function

Adenoids are part of the immune system. Like all lymphoid tissue, they trap infectious agents like viruses and bacteria, and they produce antibodies. A scanning electron microscope image of a single neutrophil (yellow), engulfing anthrax bacteria (orange). ... Stop editing pages god ... Phyla Actinobacteria Aquificae Chlamydiae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Lentisphaerae Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Verrucomicrobia Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are unicellular microorganisms. ... Each antibody binds to a specific antigen; an interaction similar to a lock and key. ...

Since the adenoids are located at the back of the nasal airway, they provide defence against inhaled substances.

This function decreases with age as the adenoids shrink. Because adenoids do ordinarily shrink by late childhood, the problems caused by enlarged adenoids rarely occur in adults.

Pathology

Enlarged adenoids, or adenoid hypertrophy, can become nearly the size of a ping pong ball and completely block airflow through the nasal passages. Adenoid hypertrophy (or enlarged adenoids) is the unusual growth (hypertrophy) of the adenoid tonsil. ... Ping Pong redirects here. ...

Even if enlarged adenoids are not substantial enough to physically block the back of the nose, they can obstruct airflow enough so that breathing through the nose requires an uncomfortable amount of work, and inhalation occurs instead through an open mouth.

Adenoids can also obstruct the nasal airway enough to affect the voice without actually stopping nasal airflow altogether.

Removal of the adenoids

Surgical removal of the adenoids is a procedure called adenoidectomy. Location of the adenoid Adenoidectomy is the surgical removal of the adenoids. ...

Carried out through the mouth under a general anaesthetic (or less commonly a topical), adenoidectomy involves the adenoids being curetted, cauterised, lasered, or otherwise ablated. A general anaesthetic drug is an anaesthetic (or anesthetic AE) drug that brings about a reversible loss of consciousness. ... A topical anesthetic is a local anesthetic that is used to numb the surface of a body part. ... Noun A spoon-shaped surgical instrument for cleaning a diseased surface. ... Cauterization is a medical term describing the burning of the body to remove or close a part of it. ...

Histology

Adenoids, unlike other types of tonsils, have pseudostratified columnar epithelium.^[1] Columnar epithelia are epithelial cells whose heights are at least twice their width. ...

They also differ from the other tonsil types by lacking crypts. Crypts are anatomical structures that are narrow but deep invaginations into a larger structure. ...

Cultural significance

• "Adenoid Hynkel" is the dictator of Tomania in Charles Chaplin's The Great Dictator.
• There is an entertaining passage about a giant adenoid, "At least as big as St. Paul's, and growing hour by hour", in Thomas Pynchon's novel Gravity's Rainbow.

The Great Dictator is a film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. ... For the Jamaican musician named Charlie Chaplin, see Charlie Chaplin (singer). ... The Great Dictator is a film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. ... Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. ... Gravitys Rainbow is an epic postmodern novel written by Thomas Pynchon and first published on February 28, 1973. ...

See also

• adenoidectomy
• lymphatic system
• pharynx
• tonsil

Location of the adenoid Adenoidectomy is the surgical removal of the adenoids. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The pharynx (plural: pharynges) is the part of the neck and throat situated immediately posterior to the mouth and nasal cavity, and cranial, or superior, to the esophagus, larynx, and trachea. ... The tonsils are areas of lymphoid tissue on either side of the throat. ...

References

1. ^ Histology at KUMC lymphoid-lymph06

The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. ...

External links

• Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator, at Elsevier 25420.000-1
• Histology at usuhs.mil
• Histology at udel.edu