Tongue: lymphatic drainage: practice question

The best answer is D, Submental nodes of both sides. The tip of the tongue drains to the submental nodes, and may drain bilaterally.

The preauricular nodes drain the temple, cheek and part of the eyelids.

The retropharyngeal nodes drain the nasopharynx and posterior pharynx.

The occipital nodes drain the posterior scalp.

It tests Tongue: lymphatic drainage in Anatomy. The lateral (marginal) part of the anterior two-thirds drains to the submandibular nodes, the central part drains to the deep cervical nodes, and the posterior third drains bilaterally to the upper deep cervical nodes. Knowing the pathways guides neck dissection.

We tag it as an application question: it asks you to use a fact on a patient or a finding. The tag is our own editorial judgement, not an official difficulty rating, so read the reason for every option, not only the answer.

Learn every nerve by its route, its muscles and what a lesion looks like at the bedside. That one habit answers a large share of questions. Then use the flashcards and the other Anatomy questions on this site to test what stuck.

No. It is an original practice item (editorial status: sample, version 1). NextPrep does not publish recalled or leaked questions, and independent faculty review of this item has not been completed yet, so confirm important facts in a standard textbook.