While carrying out the study based on prostate cancer, the scientists notice a newly-found set of salivary glands that are most likely used for lubricating the upper parts of the throat. The study was conducted by the researchers from the Netherlands Cancer Institute.
The human throat contains bilateral salivary glands called ‘tunarial glands’, which were ‘previously overlooked’. During the research, the scientists examined at least 100 patients in order to confirm their findings. Interestingly, all of the patients had the glands.
“People have three sets of large salivary glands, but not there. As far as we knew, the only salivary or mucous glands in the nasopharynx are microscopically small, and up to 1000 are evenly spread out throughout the mucosa. So, imagine our surprise when we found these,” said the oncologist Wouter Vogel. “Our next step is to find out how we can best spare these new glands and in which patients. If we can do this, patients may experience less side effects, which will benefit their overall quality of life after treatment”.
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