Lymphadenopathy is a term meaning "disease of the lymph nodes." It is, however, almost synonymously used with "swollen/enlarged lymph nodes".

 

When the infection is of the lymph nodes themselves, it is called lymphadenitis, but when the infection is of the lymph channels, it is called lymphangitis.

 

Infrequently, patients will note enlarged lymph nodes and present with the chief complaint of having a nodule, a swollen gland, a "knot," or enlarged lymph nodes; more commonly, patients do not recognize that they have significantly enlarged lymph nodes, and the lymphadenopathy is discovered by the physician. Since lymphadenopathy can be associated with a wide range of disorders spanning relatively benign medical problems such as streptococcal pharyngitis to life-threatening diseases such as malignancies, the discovery of enlarged nodes represents an important physical finding that demands a systematic evaluation.

 

Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) & National Center for Biotechnology Information