Glomus tumour
Glomus tumours, AKA glomangioma, are painful.
It should not be confused with paraganglioma, which were once called glomus tumour.
This tumour is classified as a perivascular tumour (also pericytic tumour) which is a subset of soft tissue tumours.
General
- Tumour derived from smooth muscle cell.[1]
- Usually benign.
- Malignant variant exists - extremely rare.
Clinical:
- Painful skin lesion.
- Location: classically periungual (around the nail).
- Reported in almost very site imaginable.
Microscopic
Features:[2]
- Sheets of equally-spaced cells ("cookie cutter appearance") - key feature.
- Polygonal cells with identifiable cellular borders.
- Thin-walled blood vessels.
- Moderate clear cytoplasm.
Notes:
- No significant nuclear atypia.
- The regular cell spacing is called "cookie cutter appearance". It looks like the cells were created with a cookie cutter; the spacing between cell is equal and they all look very similar.
Images:
- Glomus tumour - intermed. mag. (WC).
- Glomus tumour - very high mag. (WC).
- Glomus tumour (ouhsc.edu).
IHC
Features:[3]
- SMA +ve ~ 100%.
- Desmin usu. -ve.
- CD34 -ve.
- Rarely +ve.
Others:
- S100 -ve.
Other diagnoses...
Why it is not a(n) ...[2]
- Angiosarcoma - has nuclear atypia.
- Dermatofibroma - spindle cell lesion.
- Capillary hemangioma - no epithelioid cells, more blood vessels.
See also
- Painful skin lesions.
- Myopericytoma - the other perivascular (soft tissue) tumour.
References
- ↑ Gombos Z, Zhang PJ (September 2008). "Glomus tumor". Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. 132 (9): 1448–52. doi:10.1043/1543-2165(2008)132[1448:GT]2.0.CO;2. PMID 18788860.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 URL: http://moon.ouhsc.edu/kfung/jty1/opaq/PathQuiz/Z0B003-PQ01-M.htm. Accessed on: 19 October 2010.
- ↑ Hatori M, Aiba S, Kato M, Kamiya N, Kokubun S (July 1997). "Expression of CD34 in glomus tumors". Tohoku J. Exp. Med. 182 (3): 241–7. PMID 9362106.