New Discovery: A New Organ in the Human Throat

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While studying prostate cancer, scientists in Netherlands have potentially discovered another organ in the human throat.

This discovery was made at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, a new set of salivary glands which are located deep in the upper part of the throat. These new set of glands have been named as “tubarial salivary glands”.

The researchers confirmed the presence of this new organ after carrying out an examination of more than a 100 people. This discovery is said to have particular importance in the treatment of cancer.

The new organs are about 1.5 inches that is 3.9 diameters and are located above a cartridge namely torus tubarius. The role of these organs is said to be moistening and lubricating the upper throat behind the mouth and the nose.

Before this discovery was made, it was believed that there were three large salivary glands in humans: under the tongue, under the jaw and another one at the back of the jaw or behind the cheek.

PSMA PET-CT technology was used for studying prostrate cancer while these new organs were discovered. The scientists were beyond shocked on discovering this new organ as there are nearly a thousand microscopic salivary glands that are scattered throughout the mucosal tissue of the mouth and the throat. The PSMA PET-CT technology is a combination of CT scans and position emission tomography which is considered best in the detection of salivary gland tissue.

Prior to this, the doctors who used radiotherapy for treating the cancers in the head and neck region tried to avoid the main salivary glands because these are of utmost importance for eating, swallowing or even speaking. Now, because of this newly made discovery the doctors shall have a different approach as these radiations were hitting these glands while the doctors remained unaware of the same. The advantage for this is that there will now be fewer side effects that cancer patients have to deal with.

The next step now involves to identify as to how can these new glands be spared, and if they are in which patients. If they are successful in doing so, they will better the quality of life after treatment as the side effects will be lowered to a minimum.