Cervical lymph nodes are small, oval structures distributed throughout the neck that are part of the immune system, filtering lymph fluid and helping fight infection. On ultrasound, normal lymph nodes appear as small, oval, hypoechoic structures with a bright, echogenic fatty hilum in the center. When evaluating cervical lymph nodes, sonographers look for features that distinguish benign reactive nodes from potentially malignant ones, including size, shape, border regularity, internal architecture, and blood flow patterns on Doppler. Round nodes with loss of the normal fatty hilum, cortical thickening, or chaotic internal vascularity are concerning for malignancy and may require biopsy for definitive diagnosis.
Sonography Term