Rupture of a subungual glomus tumor of the finger

Abstract

BackgroundGlomus tumor is a rare benign neoplasm, which most frequently occurs in the subungual regions of digits. Tumor rupture and infection occurred in one patient with a glomus tumor have never been reported.Case presentationWe report a 59-year-old female presented to our hospital with a five-year history of progressively sharp pain and severe tenderness in the tip of her right middle finger. The treatment was surgical excision through a lateral incision accompanied with removal of the nail. After the surgery, the patient gained a functional recovery of her previously afflicted finger.ConclusionsTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of finger infection caused by a ruptured subungual glomus tumor. Patients and physicians should be aware of the properties of glomus tumor so that early diagnosis and treatment of subungual glomus tumor as well as avoidance of tumor rupture and infection can be achieved.

Multiple intraneural glomus tumors in different digital nerve fascicles

“…Glomus tumor is a rare benign tumor that most frequently occurs in the glomus body in the subungual regions of digits [8]. The typically cell components were glomus cells, vasculature, and smooth muscle cells [9].…”

Digital Glomus Tumor: Bibliographic Review of the Studies Published over the Past 10 Years

“…Regarding the delay in diagnosis, defined as the time elapsed from the onset of symptoms to the definitive diagnosis, 22 articles mention this variable, with a maximum value of 50 years in 1 publication, 9 and a minimum of 6 months in 2, 12,15 although most of them (19 articles 10,12,[14][15][16][19][20][21][23][24][25][26][28][29][30]33,36,40 ) refer to periods from 1 to 10 years.…”

“…The initial clinical presentation with nail deformation is found in 15 articles, 1,9,11,15,19,20,[24][25][26][27]30,31,[34][35][36] is specified as absent in 10, while 5 articles don't mention it. 12,23,29,32,33…”

“…The classic clinical triad was reported with all its components in most cases (16 articles): the most frequent symptom was spontaneous pain, found in 24 articles, 1,8-10, [12][13][14][15][16][18][19][20][21][22][23]25,26,28,29,32,35,36,40 while only El Jouari et al 24 and Kallis et al 27 specified the absence of this symptom in their case reports.…”

“…Regarding the exacerbation of pain on palpation or minimal contact, 21 articles 1,8-12, [14][15][16][18][19][20][21][25][26][27][28][29]32,36,37 refer to it as present at the time of diagnosis, and only El Jouari et al 24 refer to the absence of this symptom. 24 Hypersensitivity to cold is present in most cases (17 articles 1,[8][9][10]12,[14][15][16][19][20][21]23,25,26,32,36,40 ); in 2 publications, 18,24 it is reported as absent, while its presence or absence is not mentioned in the remaining articles.…”