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Case Reports
. 2013 Jul;5(2):92-4.
doi: 10.4103/2006-8808.128745.

Glomus tumor of thumb occurring at unusual location

Affiliations
Case Reports

Glomus tumor of thumb occurring at unusual location

Samir Dwidmuthe et al. J Surg Tech Case Rep. 2013 Jul.

Abstract

Glomus tumour are painful swelling arising from glomus bodies. They are very rare in occurrence. Most of the time the presenting symptoms is severely painful fingertip without palpable swelling. Their most common location is the subungual region of digits. We report the rare case of a glomus tumour located in an uncommon location, i.e., at the tip of right thumb medial aspect near to tendon attachment. The peculiarity of this lesion is that this lesion on magnetic resonance imaging was found to arise from the insertion of flexure pollicis longus tendon and was reported as synovial swelling arising from tendon sheath. Clinical findings were consistent with glomus tumour. Excision biopsy confirmed diagnosis of glomus tumour. Although rare, glomus tumour should be considered as differential diagnosis for fingertip pain and excision of lesion gives complete pain relief.

Keywords: Glomus body; glomus tumour; painful swelling.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Radiograph-anteropsterior and lateral view
Figure 2
Figure 2
T2 weighted Magnetic resonance imaging showing swelling arising from tendon insertion
Figure 3
Figure 3
T1 weighted Magnetic resonance imaging showing swelling arising from tendon insertion
Figure 4
Figure 4
Tumor at the tip of right thumb
Figure 5
Figure 5
Excised glomus tumour
Figure 6
Figure 6
Clinical photographs after suture removal

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