Glomus Tumors: Symptom Variations and Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Diagnosis
This 45-year-old male patient experienced intermittent pain and tenderness for 2 years, without pain provoked by coldness (). He presented with definite localized tenderness, but resting pain at the fingertip area was ambiguous, intermittent and slightly progressed. Upon physical examination, we could not find any nail plate deformity or color change in the subungual area. Despite nonspecific symptoms on the fingertip area, and taking into account the long-term pain of this patient, we conducted a non-invasive MR imaging study prior to surgical exploration. The T1-weighted MR images showed a well-marginated, round, hypo-intense lesion located in the subungual region of the fourth finger. The T2-weighted images revealed a hyper-intense lesion with a hypo-intense rim (). The mass on the fingertip was approximately 3 mm in diameter. MR imaging, strongly suggested that the lesion was a glomus tumor. Using MR imaging, we were able to plan the surgical approach to the lesion. The mass was excised completely through surgery and verified histopathologically to be a glomus tumor (). The localized pain and point tenderness disappeared immediately after surgical excision. The patient did not experience any recurrence or further complications.