Glomus tumor of the anterior urethra: A rare case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Glomus tumors are rare and benign neoplasms, which normally originate from peripheral soft tissue. To date, reported cases of glomus tumor occurring in genitourinary tract, particularly in the urethra, are exceedingly rare. The present study presented a rare case of glomus tumor of the anterior urethra in a 42 year-old male, his main complaints were a history of anterior urethra pain for 3 years, and a palpable and tender mass in the urethra for 2 weeks. Urethrocystoscopy examination and the resection of the urethral mass were performed. Pathological and immunohistochemical examination revealed that the mass was a benign glomus tumor. The patient remained in good condition by 6 month follow-up, and revealed no problems or recurrence following surgery. This is the first case, to the best of our knowledge, to present a glomus tumor occurring in a male's urethra and the present report provided a supplementary review for the previous cases and the literature.

Keywords: differential diagnosis; glomus tumor; urethra.

Figure 1.

Pathological and immunohistochemical examination. (A and B) Pathological examination revealed that the tumor tissues contained abundant vessels, surrounded by the tumor cells, which exhibited a uniform appearance, with a eosinophilic cytoplasm. The nuclei were a moderate size, round to oval and of a regular shape (magnification, ×200 and ×400, respectively). The immunohistochemical staining revealed that the tumor cells were positive for (C) smooth muscle actin and (D) cluster of differentiation 31 (magnification, ×400). Scale bar: (A) 100 µm; (B-D) 50 µm.