Glomus Tumor (Subscribe)  

Glomus tumours are rare and benign, arising from a neuromyoarterial glomus body, most commonly in the hand. We report a patient with such a tumour in an atypical site, the right vastus lateralis. Pain was aggravated by muscle contraction, and ultrasonography and MRI were required to locate the lesion accurately....

A 35-year-old man was referred to our clinic by a neurosurgeon for hypersensitivity and severe pain in his right middle finger. History showed that the symptoms had been present for three years and he had made several attempts to seek medical attention. A sensitive, very painful mass was palpated under...

The glomus tumor is a rare benign neoplasm that arises from the neuroarterial structure called a glomus body1, which accounts for 1 % to 4.5 % of tumors in the hand. The normal glomus body is located in the stratum reticulare throughout the body, but is more concentrated in the...

CONCLUSION: Lateral approach with nail complex elevation is safe, allowing excision of the tumor without nail dystrophy.
Foucher G, Le Viet D, Dailiana Z, Pajardi G. Rev Chir Orthop Reparatrice Appar Mot. 1999 Jul;85(4):362-6. Full text

Glomus tumors are rather rare (~1.5% of all hand soft tissue tumors) and generally benign neoplasms characterized by the proliferation of glomus cells, which are specialized smooth muscle cells that surround small vessels and play a role in the regulation of peripheral blood flow. Glomus tumors arise from the arterial...

In PubMed copy and paste the following search string to obtain papers on Glomus Tumours in the English language orthopaedic journals
glomus (jrid22024 OR jrid2275 OR jrid2208 OR jrid32471 OR jrid3046 OR jrid1981 OR jrid22800 OR jrid22785 OR jrid3221 OR jrid6314 OR jrid20148 OR jrid3758 OR jrid32378 OR jrid32364 OR jrid147...

Illustrated cases

OBJECTIVES: We evaluated patients who underwent surgery for glomus tumors of the finger. METHODS: During a 23-year period, 60 patients (48 females, 12 males; mean age 34.6 years; range 5 to 60 years) underwent surgery for glomus tumors of the finger. The patients were evaluated with respect to symptoms on...

Case report of an apparent glomus tumour which developed malignant spread

More correspondence on this subject from the BMJ 1973

This paper reports a glomus tumour occurring in the subcutaneous tissue of the knee of a woman. Despite extreme pain, there was (13 year) delay in diagnosis but complete recovery followed excision of the tumour.
Caughey DE, Highton TC. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1966 Feb;48(1):134-7 Full Text

Short article in Br Med J. 1973 March 10; 1(5853): 565. (full text)

Tumours arising from glomus bodies are uncommon, small benign neoplasms, typically solitary, in a subungual or subcutaneous position on the upper extremity. They may cause severe hyperaesthesia and pain, and are most frequent in the second and third decades of life (King 1954). We report a 15-year-old boy with two glomus tumours located in the foot...

Two cases of coccydynia are presented. Their definitive treatment was excision of the coccyx and the pericoccygeal tissues. The histology in both cases revealed a glomus tumour of the coccygeal body and the symptoms were completely relieved after operation. Glomus tumours of the coccygeal body may be the cause of...

Case presentation J S Lumley and A G Stansfeld Infiltrating glomus tumour of lower limb. Br Med J Feb 1972; 1: 484 - 485;