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Latin anulus lymphoideus pharyngis |
Waldeyer's tonsillar ring (pharyngeal lymphoid ring or Waldeyer's lymphatic ring) is an anatomical term collectively describing the annular arrangement of lymphoid tissue in the pharynx. Waldeyer's ring circumscribes the naso- and oropharynx, with some of its tonsillar tissue located above and some below the soft palate (and to the back of the oral cavity).
Contents
The ring consists of the (from superior to inferior):
There also normally is a good amount of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) present between all these tonsils (intertonsillar) around the ring, and more of this lymphoid tissue can variably be found more or less throughout at least the naso- and oropharynx.
Etymology
Waldeyer's ring was named after the nineteenth century German anatomist Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz.
In other animals
Some animals, but not humans, have one or two additional tonsils: