J Korean Soc Surg Hand.  2015 Dec;20(4):176-179. 10.12790/jkssh.2015.20.4.176.

Glomus Tumor in a Extradigital Lesion of Forearm: A Case Report

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Pohang St. Mary Hospital, Pohang, Korea. scartel72@gmail.com

Abstract

A 36-year-old man presented with a hard mass on the right forearm. He had no specific symptom, but wanted surgical excision for cosmetic purpose. On the physical examination, the mass was located on the ulnar side of forearm, presented mild tenderness. Ultrasound examination showed a hypoechoic mass, 1.3 x 1 cm mass in the subcutaneous tissues. Under the local anesthesia, the patient underwent an excisional biopsy of the lesion. The histopathology and the immunohistochemical analysis confirmed the tumor to be a glomus tumor. The extradigital glomus tumors are sparsely reported apart from pain. The patients can present with subcutaneous nodule, or with discoloration of the skin. These atypical symptoms make difficult to diagnose extradigital glomus tumors. In the current study, we report the case of a patient with asymptomatic glomus tumor in a extradigital lesion of forearm.

Keyword

Glomus tumor; Forearm

MeSH Terms

Adult
Anesthesia, Local
Biopsy
Forearm*
Glomus Tumor*
Humans
Physical Examination
Skin
Subcutaneous Tissue
Ultrasonography

Figure

  • Fig. 1. Preoperative clinicial photo shows protruding mass localized to the proximal dorsal portion of forearm.

  • Fig. 2. Ultrasonography of the right forearm. About 1.34×0.7 cm sized hypoechoic lesion is located on subcutaneous fat layer.

  • Fig. 3. A photograph shows two pieces of yellowish solid mass, measuring 1.3×1×0.9 cm in size for the larger one.

  • Fig. 4. A photograph shows small, uniform and rounded glomus cells nests surrounding capillary sized vessels. The vascular structures surrounded by small clusters of glomus cells are glomangioma (H&E, ×40).


Reference

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