Clinical and Histopathological Analyses of Glomus Tumors: An Institutional Experience of 29 Cases

Abstract

Background: Glomus tumors are benign mesenchymal neoplasms originating from the subcutaneous glomus body. It is often described as a painful nodule accompanied by tenderness and temperature sensitivity. Objective: To analyze the clinicopathologic features of glomus tumors and determine the correlations between thecharacteristics of glomus tumors and those of the patients. Methods: We reviewed the medical records and biopsy specimens of 29 cases of glomus tumors diagnosed betweenJune 2006 and May 2021 at a single tertiary hospital. Results: The male to female ratio was 2.6:1, and the mean age of onset was 44.3 years. All cases presented witha solitary lesion, and the most common location was the fingernail (15 cases, 51.7%). Sixteen tumors (55.2%) werelocated in the digits, all of which were subungual tumors. Among these, nine tumors (56.3%) were observed in thenail bed, and seven (43.7%) were observed in the nail matrix. Thirteen patients (44.8%) had extradigital tumors. Histopathologically, 12 cases were solid glomus tumors (41.4%), 15 were glomangiomas (51.7%), and one was aglomangiomyoma (3.4%). Myxoid stromal changes were observed in nine cases (31.0%), all of which weresubungual tumors. All tumors were removed. Postoperative nail deformities were observed in eight cases (50% ofsubungual tumors). Conclusion: At our clinic, glomus tumors were commonly seen as solitary nodules accompanied by pain ortenderness. More than half of the tumors were located in the subungual area, mostly in the fingernails. Tumorremoval alleviated the symptoms in most cases, but often resulted in residual nail dystrophy.