Scientists Discover “New” Organs in Human Throat

• There are parts of the human body that have been overlooked by doctors for centuries
• According to researchers, it’s a set of salivary glands
• This revelation may be very helpful in minimizing the side effects of cancer treatment

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Dutch scientists have identified a set of overlooked organs, the salivary glands, deep in the upper part of the human throat.

According to medical researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and colleagues at Amsterdam UMC, UMCG, and UMC Utrecht, the glands are hidden where the nasal passages meet.

Their findings are Radiation therapy and oncology Potentially great news for patients with head and neck tumors. News release by NKI Radiation oncologists said this area could be avoided to avoid potential side effects of treatment.

Completely accidental discovery

This discovery was entirely coincidental and occurred when radiation oncologist Wouter Vogel and oral and maxillofacial surgeon Matthijs Valstar were studying a new type of scan as part of their research.

Unexpectedly, they found that the two areas behind the nasopharynx (behind the nose) were much brighter. These areas appeared to resemble the known major salivary glands, but it was strange to imagine that they were there.

“People have three sets of large salivary glands, but they aren’t there,” Vogel explained. “As far as we know, the salivary or mucous glands of the nasopharynx are microscopically small, with up to 1,000 spread evenly throughout the mucosa.

“So imagine our surprise when we found these.”

Vogel and Valstar, who investigated the possible side effects of radiation on the head and neck, were previously unknown using a combination of CT scans and positron emission tomography (PET) scans called PSMA PET-CT. I was studying prostate cancer when I encountered it. A set of glands.

They highlighted these salivary glands with markers and named them “Tsvarial salivary glands” because they are located on a piece of cartilage known as Taurus Tubarius.

They showed that the length of the gland was about 3.9 cm.

Of course, the research team needed to identify their breakthroughs. To do this, they imaged 100 patients (99 of whom are male because they focus on prostate cancer) and found that all patients had these newly discovered glands. Did.

This was further confirmed when they dissected their nasopharyngeal area from two corpses from a human body donation program.

Great news for patients undergoing cancer treatment

Researchers say radiation therapy is likely to function to smooth and moisturize the nasopharynx behind the nose and mouth, and in patients with head and neck cancer, including tumors of the throat and tongue, radiation therapy is the salivary glands. Explained that it can damage and cause complications.

In that case, the patient can have difficulty eating, swallowing, and talking, which can be a significant burden, “Vogel said.

No efforts were made to avoid radiation in the area, as these “new” glands were previously unknown. They said it may be closely related to these complications.

Therefore, researchers continue to investigate data from more than 700 cancer patients who have received radiation therapy and find that the more radiation they receive in the area of ​​these glands, the more side effects reported from the treatment. discovered.

Therefore, this finding is positive news in that it reduces the side effects of cancer patients.

“For most patients, it should be technically possible to avoid irradiating this newly discovered location of the salivary gland system in the same way as trying to preserve known glands.” Vogel commented.

“Our next step is to find out how we can save these new glands and which patients we can do our best to. If we can do this, patients will experience fewer side effects. It has the potential to benefit the overall quality of life after treatment. “

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^{Image: Getty / Science Photo Library}

Edited by Zakiyah Ebrahim