Glomus Tumors of the Distal Phalanx: A Retrospective Review of Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment

Abstract

Glomus tumors (GTs) are rare and typically occur in distal digital bones, with a majority of cases comprising benign vascular tumors. The current study retrospectively reviewed 10 cases of GTs treated by the authors between January 2009 and December 2016. In 9 cases, the GTs were subungual; 1 case was periungual. The affected fingers included 2 thumbs, 3 index fingers, 3 middle fingers, and 2 little fingers. The GTs showed characteristic signs and symptoms. All patients underwent tumor excision. Pathological examination found a thin layer of fibrous membrane surrounding the excised tumor body, which contained small vessels surrounded by multilayered tumor cells. No recurrence was seen during follow-up. The results of this study suggested the following: (1) whole tumor excision is key to preventing GT recurrence; and (2) in case of considerable phalangeal cortex erosion, K-wire fixation followed by autogenous bone grafting can produce satisfactory outcomes, although accurate evidence-based indications for this management need to be established. [ Orthopedics . 2022;45(2):e101–e106.]

Surgical Management of Difficult Nail Glomus Tumors

“…On the other hand, Hildreth's test [7] is described as a pain improvement observed after the compression at the base of the painful digit (tourniquet) [8,9]. Many diagnostic tools are described in the literature to identify, localize, and characterize these tumors, such as dermoscopy, transillumination, X-ray/computerized tomography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, thermography, dynamic thermography, dynamic optical coherence tomography, arteriography, and angio-MRI [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], but Love's pin test is simple, cheap, precise, and rarely fails.…”