Lymph Trunks & Ducts – The Body’s Drainage Superhighway!

The Thoracic Duct

Once lymph (that clear fluid that carries waste, toxins, and immune cells) leaves the tiny lymph capillaries, it travels through lymph vessels and lymph nodes—like pit stops along a road trip.

As lymph continues its journey, it flows out of the last node in each chain and joins up with others to form larger highways called lymph trunks. These are like major motorways that carry the lymph toward two big final destinations:

The Right Lymphatic Duct

Meet the Main Lymph Trunks

• Lumbar trunks: drain the legs, pelvis, kidneys & adrenal glands
• Intestinal trunk: drains the tummy area—stomach, intestines, pancreas, spleen, liver
• Bronchomediastinal trunks: drain the lungs, heart, chest walls
• Subclavian trunks: drain the arms
• Jugular trunks: drain the head and neck

Thoracic Duct (The Left-Side Drainage Giant)

This is the main drainage pipe—around 38–45 cm long. It starts as a little balloon-like pouch in your lower back called the cisterna chyli (found near your second lumbar vertebra).

It handles a LOT:

• Everything below the ribs
• Left side of the head & neck
• Left chest
• Left arm

It receives lymph from:

• Lumbar trunks → legs, pelvis, kidneys, adrenal glands, deep abdominal wall
• Intestinal trunk → stomach, intestines, pancreas, spleen, liver
• Left jugular trunk → left side of head and neck
• Left subclavian trunk → left arm
• Left bronchomediastinal trunk → left chest, heart, left lung

And finally, it empties into the left subclavian vein, blending lymph back into the bloodstream.

Right Lymphatic Duct 

This one’s short and sweet—just 1.25 cm long! But it’s still important.

It drains the upper right side of the body:

• Right jugular trunk → right head & neck
• Right subclavian trunk → right arm
• Right bronchomediastinal trunk → right lung, right chest, heart, and a bit of the liver

Then it delivers all that fluid into the right subclavian vein.

Final Destination: The Bloodstream!

Both ducts—thoracic and right lymphatic—empty lymph into the veins, rejoining the bloodstream, all cleaned up and ready to circulate again.