Unveiling The Tubarial Gland: Key Anatomical Features and Clinical Significance

Medical technological advancements have revealed previously unknown anatomical features in the nasal cavity known as tubarial glands. However, many questions remain unanswered concerning these glands. The authors intend to give analysis of the tubarial glands, including their major discovery (MD), anatomical and histological features (AHF), and clinical significance (CS), through this systematic review. Articles were identified using the PRISMA methods, with data collected from SCOPUS, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and PubMed until September 2024. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) were utilized using various terminology: "tubarial gland*", "tubarial salivary gland*", and "radiotherapy”. Inclusion criteria were: (1) type of study was original research report, case report, case studies, letter to editor, brief communication, commentary, editorial, and news (2) articles with full-text access only, and (3) The article provides information on the tubarial glands. Exclusion criteria were: (1) type of study systematic review, meta-analysis, or bibliometry and (2) article is not in english. The identification yielded a total of 37 articles worldwide. The distribution of the types of studies includes original research (19; 51.3%), case report (3; 8.1%), letter to editor (6; 16.2%), brief communication (2; 5.4%), commentary (7; 18.9%), editorial (1; 2.7%), news (1; 2.7%). Based on research subjects and their total number includes healthy patients (1; 2.7%) with a total of 26 subjects, prostate cancer (12; 32.4%) with a total of 612 subjects, head and neck cancer (3; 8.1%) with a total of 38 subjects, nasopharyngeal carcinoma (1; 2.7%) with a total of 240 subjects, Sjorgren's syndrome (1; 2.7%) with a total of 29 subjects, oncocytic papillary cystadenoma (1; 2.7%) with a total of one subject, and others (20; 54.0%). This newly discovered gland has similar morphological, histological, and physiological properties to salivary glands and may have a function in upper airway lubrication and maintenance.