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The tonsils
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
Tonsils: lingual and pharyngeal (unpaired), palatine and tubal (paired) - are located at the entrance to the pharynx from the oral cavity and from the nasal cavity, i.e. on the pathways of food and inhaled air entering the body. Food before it is broken down into amino acids, simple sugars and emulsified fats is a foreign product for the body. Inhaled air always contains a small amount of dust and other foreign particles. In addition, microorganisms and their waste products can enter the human body along with food and inhaled air. Thus, the tonsils, which form the pharyngeal lymphoid ring (Pirogov-Waldeyer ring) around the entrance to the pharynx, are important organs of the immune system, which are the first to come into contact with foreign substances entering the human digestive and respiratory tract.
The tonsils are clusters of lymphoid tissue containing smaller, denser cellular masses called lymphoid nodules.
The lingual tonsil (tonsilla lingualis) is unpaired and lies under the multilayered epithelium of the mucous membrane of the root of the tongue, often in the form of two clusters of lymphoid tissue. The boundary between these clusters on the surface of the tongue is the sagittally oriented median groove of the tongue, and in the depth of the organ - the septum of the tongue.
The palatine tonsil (tonsilla palatum) is paired and located in the tonsillar fossa (fossa tonsillaris), which is a depression between the palatoglossal arch in front and the palatopharyngeal arch behind, which diverge downwards. Above the tonsil, between the initial sections of these arches, is the triangular supratonsillar fossa (fossa supratonsillaris), which sometimes forms a fairly deep saccular pocket. The palatine tonsil has an irregular shape, close to the shape of an almond. The greatest length (13-28 mm) of the palatine tonsil is observed in 8-30-year-olds, and the greatest width (14-22 mm) is observed at 8-16 years of age.
The pharyngeal (adenoid) tonsil (tonsilla pharyngeals, s.adenoidea) is unpaired, located in the area of the vault and partly the back wall of the pharynx, between the right and left pharyngeal pockets (Rosenmüller's fossae). In this place there are 4-6 transversely and obliquely oriented thick folds of the mucous membrane. Inside these folds is the lymphoid tissue of the pharyngeal tonsil.
The tubular tonsil (tonsilla tubaria) is paired and is a cluster of lymphoid tissue in the form of a discontinuous plate in the thickness of the mucous membrane of the tubal ridge, in the area of the pharyngeal opening and the cartilaginous part of the auditory tube. The tonsil consists of diffuse lymphoid tissue and a few lymphoid nodules. The mucous membrane above the tonsil is covered with ciliated (multi-row ciliated) epithelium. The tubal tonsil is quite well expressed in a newborn (its length is 7.0-7.5 mm), and reaches its greatest development at 4-7 years.
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