Knee Glomangioma: A Rare Location for a Glomus Tumor

Abstract

Glomus tumor is a rare, benign neoplasm rising from the glomus apparatus of the skin. It occurs most frequently on fingers and toes and accounts for 1.6% of all soft tissue tumors. Clinical diagnosis may prove difficult if the tumor occurs on an extra digital location. We report a case of a vascular-type glomus tumor (glomangioma) found in an atypical location, namely the lateral aspect of the knee joint.

Color Doppler Sonography of Extradigital Glomus Tumors

“…EDGTs are considered to be more frequent in males, although no sex predominance was noted in our series. Most cases have been described in young and middle‐age adults (mean age, 43 years in our series), perhaps this is because glomus bodies themselves are absent in children younger than 1 year of age, and they tend to atrophy in the elder.…”

“…Malignancy should be suspected in the case of multiple, large, deep, and heterogeneous EDGTs . Although none of our 7 cases undergoing follow‐up had any relapse, tumor recurrence may develop in 12% to 33% of cases …”

“…Their extradigital location is rare. Most of the published articles we found on the EDGT are single case reports . Additionally, only a minority of these articles include a description of the sonography findings .…”

“…However, many EDGTs remain undiagnosed for months or years, particularly in the case of a nonpalpable lesion with vague symptoms. Less than 20% of the cases are correctly diagnosed preoperatively . Sometimes, the lesion is initially thought to be a hemangioma or a neural tumor, and the EDGT diagnosis represents a pathologic discovery.…”

Tumeur Glomique De L’hallux. Nouveau Cas Et Revue De La Litterature Glomus Tumor of Hallux. New Case and Review of Literature.

“…Signalée pour la première fois par Wood en 1812 [3] qu'il a dénommé (nodule sous cutané douloureux), c'est Masson [4] en 1924 qu'il l'a définit en décrivant le glomus qu'il nomme ainsi à cause de sa similitude avec la glande vasculaire coccygienne de Luschka [5]. Si la localisation digitale est bien connue en chirurgie de la main [6], les localisations atypiques [7][8][9][10][11][12][13], comme notre cas au niveau de l'hallux, souffrent de méconnaissance, ce qui conduit à des erreurs diagnostiques et thérapeutiques. La symptomatologie clinique associe une triade classique ISSN: 2320-5407 Int.…”