Oncocytic glomus tumor of the trachea

Abstract

An oncocytic variant of glomus tumor of the trachea occurred in a 47-year-old woman. She experienced intermittent cough and hemoptysis for about three years. Bronchoscopy and chest CT scan showed a small reddish polypoid tumor on the lower end of the trachea. Bronchoscopic biopsy was carefully done and was diagnosed as oncocytoma. A wedge resection of the tumor was done. Tumor cells were characterized by strongly eosinophilic granular cytoplasm on light microscopy and by numerous closely packed round or ovoid mitochondria with prominent tubular cristae on electron microscopy. They were arranged in a sheet around small vessels, as a result of which the biopsy diagnosis of oncocytoma was changed to oncocytic glomus tumor. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an oncocytic glomus tumor arising from the trachea.