Adenoids (Pharyngeal Tonsil)

[Continued from above] . . . sweeping materials out of the throat to catch possible infectious agents, coat them in mucus, and send the resulting mass to the stomach for digestion before the allergens, viruses, etc. can be drawn into the lungs to cause infection. Located above the tonsils and behind the soft palate and nose, the fairly oblong adenoids cannot be seen directly but are part of the nasopharynx, the area between the nose and the pharynx. Adenoid tissue is unencapsulated, lacks crypts (it has furrows), and includes efferent as well as afferent lymphatics. The adenoids will reach full size at some point during early childhood and then diminish again in size prior to adulthood. However, infection can at any time cause enlarged adenoids that may not reduce in size after the infection has passed. Such inflammation can result in obstruction of the respiratory system, troubled breathing, and may lead to ear infections when the adenoids swell enough to block drainage from the middle ear (the Eustachian tubes). Proper drainage of the sinuses may be restricted as well.