What does adenitis refer to?

Adenitis specifically refers to the inflammation of glandular tissue. This condition can occur due to various reasons such as infections, autoimmune diseases, or other pathological processes affecting the glands. When glandular tissue becomes inflamed, it can lead to swelling, tenderness, and, in some cases, systemic symptoms like fever depending on the severity of the underlying cause.

While infection of a gland may suggest one cause of glandular inflammation, adenitis encompasses the broader concept of inflammation, which can be due to factors other than infection, including irritants and systemic inflammatory responses. Therefore, acknowledging adenitis as purely an infection would be too narrow. An abscess, which is a collection of pus, could indeed develop as a result of glandular infection, but this is not synonymous with adenitis itself. Similarly, hyperplasia of glandular cells refers to an increase in the number of cells within a gland but does not specifically indicate inflammation of the glandular tissue. Thus, inflammation of the glandular tissue captures the most accurate definition of adenitis.