Glomus Tumors in the Foot

Abstract

Therapeutic, Level IV: Case series.

Glomus tumour of the fourth toe: case discussion and review of literature

“…The presented case is rare in terms of its location in the fourth toe of a male patient in his 30s, decreasing the level of suspicion and hence delaying time to reach a proper diagnosis. Just as it has been noticed in all large case series,9 13 15 our patient has already took multiple opinions from several medical specialties before reaching us with full clinical evidence of a glomus tumour. We believe that sharing our current finding will help raise level of awareness on this rare lesion among clinicians making imaging requests, and make referrals and surgeries more targeted, which in return will decrease patients’ frustration and suffering and overall healthcare cost, looking at the fact that these lesions are usually mistaken for and treated as ingrown nails, neuromas, exostoses or osteoid osteomas, among others.…”

“…It was first described in 1924 by Barré and Masson and was named after them, the Barré-Masson syndrome 12. It arises mainly in the fingers, with a female predominance and an age predilection to the fourth decade 9 13 14…”

“…After a thorough review of the literature, we noticed the paucity of articles reporting this tumour in the toes and even the low frequency of its growth in the lesser toes. To the best of our knowledge, the farthest this lesion has been described was in the third toe9 10; thus, we felt that it could be useful to share this case report of a glomus tumour in the fourth toe.…”

Glomus tumors in the foot

“…It is a thermoregulatory arteriovenous shunt controlled by sympathetic activity to regulate blood flow when exposed to cold or hot temperatures. It thus helps regulate temperature by increasing or decreasing blood flow (1) .…”

Transungual resection of subungual glomus tumour

“…They are most commonly localised in the hands. Other locations such as foot,3 hip,4 thigh,5 urethra6 and stomach7 have been reported. They are most commonly seen between the second and fourth decades.…”