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Dr. Andrew Rynne

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Swollen Neck Lymph Node, Hard, Painless, Movable. Had Sore Throat. What To Do?

lymph node on neck appeared swollen a couple days ago when at physical therapy. Therapist messaging my neck noticed it on left side. I would say its hard, I believe movable, and painless, and under 1cm. I havent been knowingly sick, though in recent weeks I had a little bit of a sore throat but nothing major. What should I do?
posted on Tue, 6 Aug 2013
Twitter Fri, 16 Aug 2013 Answered on
Twitter Fri, 16 Aug 2013 Last reviewed on
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ENT Specialist,  's  Response
hello and welcome to HCM,

Presence of lymph node in the neck is common especially under 1 cm and in most of the cases it will be harmless.
having said that, since you can palpate the node let us run through a few checklist so that we can be sure that it is harmless:
1. Get a complete blood work out including ESR
2. Get a test called the FNAC which will confirm the diagnosis in most of the cases
3. Get an ENT examination to rule out focus of infection like the tonsils and if present direct the treatment towards the same
4. If all is fine then undergo an CT scan examination of the neck to better outline the node and also try and find if there are other nodes internally and if the surrounding structures are normal.

in all probability all these may be normal so you may think whether the tests are required since they cost a little. But remember a sleep without worry is priceless!!


Dr Sriram Nathan
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Swollen Neck Lymph Node, Hard, Painless, Movable. Had Sore Throat. What To Do?

hello and welcome to HCM, Presence of lymph node in the neck is common especially under 1 cm and in most of the cases it will be harmless. having said that, since you can palpate the node let us run through a few checklist so that we can be sure that it is harmless: 1. Get a complete blood work out including ESR 2. Get a test called the FNAC which will confirm the diagnosis in most of the cases 3. Get an ENT examination to rule out focus of infection like the tonsils and if present direct the treatment towards the same 4. If all is fine then undergo an CT scan examination of the neck to better outline the node and also try and find if there are other nodes internally and if the surrounding structures are normal. in all probability all these may be normal so you may think whether the tests are required since they cost a little. But remember a sleep without worry is priceless!! Dr Sriram Nathan