Scientists Discover New Human Salivary Glands

The findings may have implications for radiotherapy, a cancer treatment that can cause damage to salivary glands and leave lasting complications.

| 4 min read
salivary gland new human anatomy head and neck cancer radiation therapy

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ABOVE: A 3-D reconstruction from histological slides (inset on right) of the newly discovered tubarial gland (yellow; ducts in light blue). The torus tubarius cartilage is colored dark blue and muscle is pink.
M. Valstar et al., Radiotherapy & Oncology, doi:10.1016/j.radonc.2020.09.034, 2020.

Doctors don’t regularly come across undiscovered bits of human anatomy, but a team of physicians recently reported a never-before-described set of salivary glands in patients’ necks. The first hint of this new gland emerged while Wouter Vogel, a radiation oncologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NCI), was probing for damage to salivary glands after radiotherapy for cancer in the head, neck, or brain—injuries that can lead to issues such as problems with digestion, speech, and an increase in oral infections. While going through these scans, he found something usual.

Vogel was using a new technique for detecting cells in the salivary glands—PSMA PET/CT, a form of combined positron emission ...

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Meet the Author

  • Diana Kwon

    Diana is a freelance science journalist who covers the life sciences, health, and academic life.
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