Age: 0-5 Years
Severity: Severe disease

There is an impression of an enlarged right paratracheal lymph node. What is more obvious, however, is the narrowing of the bronchi (particularly the left main bronchus) and the deviation of the trachea. Sometimes you see the airway involvement without clearly seeing the enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. Note that the left lung looks darker than the right lung – this may indicate a ‘ball valve’ or ‘check valve’ effect caused by nodal compression of the airway which allows air into the lung but not out of the lung causing the lung to become hyperinflated.

Image contributed by the Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Stellenbosch University


CXR Image Repository, Complicated lymph node disease | Published: 27 May 2022 | Updated: 8 September 2022