Renal lymph nodes

The renal lymph nodes are located in the hilum of the kidneys adjacent to the renal artery and vein. They may be present only on one side. They drain the kidney and its adipose capsule, as well as the adrenal gland and the beginning of the ureter. Their efferent vessels drain into the lumbar trunks or the cisterna chyli, and sometimes into the more cranial of the lumbar-aortic lymph nodes.

The renal lymph nodes are not present are not really distinct from lumbar-aortic lymph nodes in carnivores and humans. They are inconsistent in rabbits.