New body part? New possibilities or just hype?
With the tremendous advancements in the field of medicine over the past few decades, you would have expected scientists to have discovered every organ there is to discover in the human body.
But surprisingly this is not the case; evidently after the discovery of the tubarial glands, the newest addition to the list of human organs.
Researchers in the Netherlands Cancer Institute were taken by surprise while studying individuals with prostate cancer. Using the special technology called PSMA PET/CT (prostate-specific membrane antigen imaging using positron emission tomography), they happened to have two unexpected areas lit up in the back of the nasopharynx (or nasal passage). After observing that the same areas lit up in the scans of the other nearly 100 patients they were studying, their suspicions were all but confirmed.
Although initially the areas were believed to harbour a previously unknown set of salivary glands, later findings suggested that it may be a newly discovered organ.
The scientists decided to name these newly discovered organs “tubarial glands”. The assumed function of the organ is thought to be to moisten and lubricate the nasopharynx — the part that is connected to the soft palate, and oropharynx — the part that is connected to the tongue and throat.
The study could possibly benefit patients with head and neck cancers and tumours in the tongue or the throat that are treated using radiation therapy which can damage the “new” glands, whose location was previously not known. Thus, damage to these organs can now be prevented which could have resulted in dry mouth and trouble with speaking, eating.
According to Wouter Vogel, a radiation oncologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute:
(With the discovery) It should technically be possible to avoid delivering radiation to this newly discovered location of the salivary gland system in the same way we try to spare known glands. If we can do this, patients may experience less side effects which will benefit their overall quality of life after treatment.
The only thing remaining to do is to replicate the study with a different series of patients to confirm the findings as 99 of the 100 subjects in the study were male and a standardized testing method wasn’t used. One can even say that the findings were experimental and further testing is much required for any changes to the findings. There is a debate around whether the organs are a part of the salivary gland organ system or a new organ.
Let’s hope that with this unexpected discovery, its unexpected benefits are found and a new safer cancer treatment method is devised.
