TUESDAY, Oct. 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Dutch researchers have found what might be a set of previously unknown large salivary glands in the space where the nasal cavity<\/a> meets the throat, the New York Times<\/i> reported Monday.<\/p>\n If confirmed, these glands could be the first of their kind discovered in about 300 years. Modern anatomy books show only three types of salivary glands, a set near the ears, another below the jaw and a third under the tongue. “Now, we think there is a fourth,” researcher Dr. Matthijs Valstar<\/a>, a surgeon at the Netherlands Cancer<\/a> Institute, told the Times<\/i>.<\/p>\n The report was published recently in the journal Radiotherapy and Oncology<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n Dr. Valerie Fitzhugh, a pathologist at Rutgers University, who wasn’t involved in the research, told the Times<\/i> that although the study was small, “it seems like they may be onto something. If it’s real, it could change the way we look at disease in this region.”<\/p>\n Dr. Yvonne Mowery, a radiation<\/a> oncologist at Duke University in North Carolina, told the paper she “was quite shocked that we are in 2020 and have a new structure identified in the human body<\/a>.”<\/p>\n It’s not clear how these glands hid for so long. But, “the location is not very accessible, and you need very sensitive imaging to detect it,” researcher Dr. Wouter Vogel, a radiation<\/a> oncologist at the Netherlands Cancer<\/a> Institute, told the Times<\/i>.<\/p>\n This finding might help explain why people who undergo radiation therapy<\/a> of the head or neck often end up with chronic dry mouth<\/a> and swallowing problems<\/a>, Vogel said.<\/p>\n Dr. Alvand Hassankhani, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told the Times<\/i> he isn’t sure these are “new organs.” It’s possible the Dutch researchers found a better way to see a set of minor glands, he explained.<\/p>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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