After centuries of research and cracking open humans to analyze every little inch of their bodies, you’d probably imagine we have discovered every organ present inside and out, but apparently, we’re far from being right. Moreover, new organs are being discovered all the time.
In fact, researchers have discovered in 2018 the largest organ in the human body. Apparently, they have discovered interconnected sacs filled with fluid that run within the elastin and collagen structures. They’re located between our organs and tissues and beneath our skin. If this wasn’t a huge discovery, researchers just discovered a new organ inside the human body. An organ that never knew about until now. With so many discoveries happening all the time, I would say that it’s getting pretty crowded in here.
It all started with the oncologists at the Netherlands Cancer Institute analyzing patients with head and neck cancer. They used a new scan as part of their research, to be more specific, it’s called emission tomography/computed tomography with prostate-specific membrane antigen ligands (PSMA PET/CT) scan.
This type of scan has been proven to be very efficient in monitoring how cancer spreads in the human body. Additionally, scientists started by injecting patients with radioactive glucose and then began scanning. The injection made it easier for researchers to identify the tumors because they are glowing brightly.
The new organ discovery was made while using the scan on patients. The researchers have discovered that certain areas in the head lit up unexpectedly. They continued scanning patients and found the same areas lighting up. They scanned 100 patients and all of them had the exact same bright spots in their head.
Therefore, because all the patients presented the same bright spots, the researchers concluded that it’s actually not an anomaly, yet an entirely new organ that hasn’t been discovered until now.
And now you probably wonder, what is this new discovery? Well, it’s a set of salivary glands (mucus glands with several draining ducts) that are positioned in the back of the nasopharynx.
