Sellar Glomus Tumor Misdiagnosed as Pituitary Adenoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Glomus tumor is a rare mesenchymal tumor with an organ-like structure. Sellar glomus tumors are extremely rare with only six reported cases in the literature. Because of the lack of special clinical manifestations and imaging features, the disorder may be easily misdiagnosed as other sellar tumors, especially pituitary adenomas. Here, the present study showed a case of a 69-year-old male with hypopituitarism who was preliminarily misdiagnosed as non-functional pituitary adenoma.

Keywords: endoscopic transsphenoidal approach; glomus tumor; hypopituitarism; pituitary adenoma; sellar.

Figure 1

MRI and pathological images. (A, B) Five years before the operation: Coronal MRI and enhanced MRI images indicated the sellar lesions with a size of approximately 21.0 × 14.5 × 12 mm had cystic structures and was inhomogenously enhanced. (C, D) Three months before the operation: Coronal MRI and enhanced MRI images indicated the sellar lesions with a size of about 37 × 35 × 24 mm had variable signal intensity and multiple apoplectic events. (E) Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining indicated the mild cell morphology with rare nuclear division; immunohistochemical staining indicated that the tumor cells were positive for (F) Vimentin, (G) SMA, (H) SYN, (I) h-caldesmon, (J) Desmin, (K) Collagen IV, and (L) CD34. Magnification, ×200; Bar = 100 μm.