A rare tumour of hand: angioleiomyoma

Abstract

Angioleiomyoma is a benign tumour composed of smooth muscle and vascular tissue. Because of the paucity of smooth muscles in the hand other than tunica media of the blood vessels, its occurrence is quite rare in the hand and only few cases are reported in the English literature. We present the case of a 49-year-old man with benign painless swelling on the dorsum of hand. Differential diagnosis of ganglion cyst and tendon sheath tumour were considered. However, excision biopsy revealed angioleiomyoma. At 2-year follow-up, the patient remained asymptomatic with no evidence of recurrence.

A Rare Case of Angioleiomyoma of the Hand

“…It originates from the smooth muscle cells in blood vessels and involves mostly lower extremities. Hand involvement by angioleiomyoma is extremely rare due to paucity of smooth muscles in vasculature of the hand [2]. Epidemiologically, females are affected more than males with a ratio of 1.7:1, but upper extremity involvement was reported to be more common in males, as in the case of our patient [3,4].…”

“…Angioleiomyomas can be divided into three histologic subtypes: solid or capillary, venous and cavernous [3,5]. Solid type consists of closely compacted smooth muscle bundles that surround blood vessels; venous type contains vessels having thick muscular walls and are not so compact; and cavernous type incorporates dilated vascular channels with minimal smooth muscles [1][2][3]. These tumors have also been divided into two categories based on their location, namely tumors of the extremities and head region [3].…”

“…Angioleiomyoma, also known as "vascular leiomyoma," is a benign tumor derived from the muscular tissue in tunica media layer of the vascular system. Although it can arise anywhere in the body, finger involvement is a very rare entity [1,2]. It typically presents as a slowly growing subcutaneous mass with pain being the most common presenting symptom [1,3].…”

Leiomyoma of the hand in an adolescent

“…Extremity-located leiomyomas are seen dominantly in the lower limbs (6). In the upper extrem- ities, leiomyomas are seen less frequently than all other soft tissue tumors (7). These tumors in the lower limbs are mostly found in females aged 20-50 years.…”

Angioleiomyoma of the hand with nerve compression

“…This tumor is often confused with a giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath, ganglion cyst, hemangioma, schwannoma, neurofibroma, and glomus tumor, which are considered the most common types of hand tumors. 2,[9][10][11] Only one reported case of hand angioleiomyoma included occasional symptoms of nerve compression. 12 No case series of angioleiomyoma have included this symptom.…”