Scientists accidentally discovered potential new organ in throat amid cancer research.

 

Researchers including those from the Netherlands Cancer Institute have accidentally identified a potential new organ in the human throat during a study of prostate cancer when they were using a combination of CT scans and positron emission tomography (PET) scans called PSMA PET-CT. The doctors had injected a radioactive "tracer" into the patient.

To confirm the discovery, Vogel and his colleagues imaged 100 patients and found that each one of them had the newly discovered organ which consists of mucosal gland tissue and ducts draining into the nasopharynx.

This nasopharynx region — behind the nose — wasn't thought to host anything but microscopic, diffuse, salivary glands; but the newly discovered set are about 1.5 inches (3.9 centimeters) in length on average. Because of their location over a piece of cartilage called the torus tubarius, the discoverers of these new glands have dubbed them the tubarial salivary glands. The glands probably lubricate and moisten the upper throat behind the nose and mouth, the researchers wrote online Sept. 23 in the journal Radiotherapy and Oncology