00:00
So let's talk about
the lymph system.
00:03
I'm gonna give the lymph
system a little love
because I got to
be honest with you.
00:08
Most people in nursing school know
the least about the lymphatic system.
00:12
We don't often delve into it enough
and there's really a lot to know.
00:17
So let's talk about
how that works.
00:19
Now you're looking at a chest
wall, right?
You see the heart there,
you see the lungs,
but I want you to pay
attention to the thoracic duct.
00:28
Now, we've got some
vessels there in green.
00:30
And that represents
the lymphatic system.
00:34
Now the liver is more involved
in the lymphatic system
than you may have recognized.
00:39
Because the liver produces
25 to 50% of the lymph
that's flowing through
the thoracic duct.
00:47
Okay so you know where
the liver is right,
so were on the right
side of your body.
00:51
Now it is the producer
of almost up to half
of the lymph that's flowing
through the thoracic duct.
00:59
The thoracic duct Is the
largest vessel in the body.
01:04
So remember we're going to show a little
love here to the lymphatic system.
01:08
So let's spend some time here.
01:11
You've got the liver,
it produces a large amount of the lymph
that flows through
the thoracic duct.
01:16
And the thoracic duct is the largest
lymphatic vessel in the body.
01:21
I've got a lot of words there,
but I'd love for you to take some extra
notes write some extra things on your notes
so you can lay that down as an
important piece of information
about the lymph system.
01:34
Now a healthy liver has an
abundance of lymphocytes
like natural killer cells,
natural killer T cells,
and it utilizes other
cells to present antigens.
01:46
So what's really important
in our immune response
and our defense
systems in the body.
01:52
Now from the thoracic duct go ahead
and put your finger back on that,
remember, it's the largest
lymphatic vessel in the body
from the thoracic, lymph is emptied
back into the blood circulation.
02:05
Okay so these guys are mixing and
mingling all throughout your body
and it's the lymph system
that's responsible for that.
02:12
Now lymph vessels in the liver,
they retain fluid and they
regulate the immune system.
02:18
So we've got a
lot of words here.
02:21
Let's make sure you
get the key ones.
02:23
Liver makes up to
half of the lymph
that is flowing through
the thoracic duct,
which is the largest one
in the lymph system, right?
We follow that thoracic duct up
because we know lymph is empty
back into the blood circulation
through that thoracic duct.
02:39
And it's those lymph
vessels, they're in the liver
that retain fluid and
regulate the immune system.
02:46
So I think you already
see where this is going.
02:49
We won't focus on that here,
but if your liver is struggling
so is your immune system.
02:54
So let's look closer at
this lymphatic system.
02:58
The lymphatic vascular system
is the one that removes
interstitial fluid from
the tissues in the body
and returns it to
the bloodstream.
03:06
Remember that big guy
the thoracic duct, right.
03:09
Now we're going to
look at how that lymph
interacts with the
interstitial tissues.
03:14
You'll see on the picture.
This should look familiar to you.
03:17
We use this same graphic
to help you understand
how albumin moves to the
intravascular space attracts sodium
and therefore water follows,
but remember the outside
of those capillary
that's the interstitial tissue.
03:33
Well, this is where the lymphatic
system really comes into play.
03:38
Now take a look at our model.
03:40
You see the female client there
and she's got all this green
lines running through her body.
03:46
Those are the vessels.
03:48
Those are meant to represent
the lymphatic vessels.
03:51
Now the lymphatic system
gets kind of complicated.
03:54
Thymus you got
these special cells,
but what I want you
to really focus on
is take a look at
how complex that is.
04:01
Know that this is the system
that's going to drain the
fluid from the tissues
in the interstitial spaces and
get it back into the bloodstream.
04:11
Those if this system is overloaded
or it's not functioning,
tissues are going to have issues
because it's not going to
be able to move that fluid.
04:21
Now the interstitial
fluid is called lymph,
once it enters a
lymphatic capillaries.
04:27
There's a fun fact try
that one at dinner.
04:29
But when you hear us
talking about lymph,
it's interstitial fluid
once it is entered the
lymphatic capillaries.
04:37
So lymphatic fluid is
similar to blood plasma
and it also contains
some white blood cells.
04:43
Those are important points.
04:44
Don't just brush over those.
04:46
So think about, quiz yourself.
04:48
When does interstitial
fluid become lymph?
When it's in the lymphatic
capillaries, good.
04:54
So lymphatic fluid is
similiar to blood plasma,
and it also contains
white blood cells.
05:02
Those are really important points to
make sure you have solid in your mind
as we progress through
the rest of the video.
05:08
So that wraps up the
section on increased lymph.
05:11
Remember I didn't give
you really solid reasons
as to why and how that happens,
but we know that it does.
05:18
Make sure you're clear on
what the lymph system does,
how it's similar lymph to blood,
what had has that's
the same as blood.
05:26
What's different,
and how it removes fluid
from the interstitial spaces
and gets it back
into the bloodstream.