Glomus tumor of the trachea – Synopsis of histology & methodology of treatment

Abstract

Glomus tumors are neoplasms arising from modified smooth muscle cells surrounding arteriovenous anastomosis in the dermis and subcutaneous tissues, which are contributing to blood flow regulation and temperature control on the skin surface. Glomus cells are sparse or absent in visceral organs, making extracutaneous presentation of glomus tumors an extremely rare finding. We briefly report histological considerations on glomus tumors of the trachea and sum the multidisciplinary aspects of their staged endoscopic and surgical management using the example of a rare case presentation.

An Unusual Case of chest wall Glomus Tumor presenting with axillary pain: a case report and literature review

“…The GTs can be found in any location, even in visceral organs. There are reported cases of GT affecting breast (18), thyroid(6, 10), heart (7,19), trachea (2,20), lung(8), mediastinum (21,22), esophagus(5, 23), stomach (24,25), liver(26), small intestine(9) and colon (27). Extra-digital cases may be missed frequently as a result of affecting less common sites and their atypical presentation.…”

“…Upon histologic evaluation of GT, nests of epithelioid cells with eosinophilic cytoplasm and round nuclei are detected. Immunohistochemistry distinguishes the GT from many differential diagnoses like schwannoma as GT's immunohistochemistry is positive for smooth muscle actin and vimentin and negative for neuroendocrine markers (e.g., S100, chromogranin, and synaptophysin) (2).…”

“…The GT mostly has a benign nature, and it has less than 1 percent risk of transformation into malignancy (11). However, deep tumor location, diameter more than 2cm, atypical mitotic gures, and high nuclear grade with more than ve mitotic gures per 50 high power elds are proposed to hint toward a possible malignant variety (i.e., glomangiosarcoma) (2,32). Depending on the predominant tumor cells, whether vascular, smooth muscle cells, and glomus cells, the benign lesions may be classi ed as glomangioma, glomangiomyoma, and glomus tumor proper, respectively (2,16).…”

An Unusual Case of Chest Wall Glomus Tumor Presenting With Axillary Pain: a Case Report and Literature Review

“…The GTs frequently (90%) present solitary. Multiple GT presentation known as glomangiomatosis is seen mostly in children and is associated with either autosomal dominant inherited mutation in chromosome 1 or neuro bromatosis type 1 (2,11). The lesions in glomangiomatosis may not be painful, unlike isolated glomus tumor cases (14).…”

“…Glomus tumor (GT) is a mesenchymal neoplasm that originated from modi ed smooth muscle cells of the glomus body known as glomus cells (1). Less than 2 percent of soft tissue tumors are turned out to be GT (2). It causes severe paroxysmal pain crises, point tenderness, and temperature sensitivity, leading to signi cant functional impairment.…”