Ten Years’ Experience with Diagnosis and Treatment of Non-Subungual Glomus Tumor in the Fingers

Abstract

Non-subungual glomus tumor in the fingers is very rare. To explore the insights gained from diagnosing and treating non-subungual glomus tumors in the finger, we collected 19 cases in the last ten years, which were only reported as isolated cases in the previous literature. This was a retrospective study of 19 surgical patients between May 2012 and January 2022 with preoperative MRI, ultrasound, and their final pathological diagnosis is glomus tumor, while the lesions were located not under the nail bed. Immunohistochemistry indicated that SMA(+)100%, CD34(+)89.5%, Ki-67(+1∼3%)68.4%, CD31(vessel+)26.3%, Desmin(+)21%, Calponin(+) 10.5%, Vimentin(+)5.2%, Caldesmon(+)5.2%. The sensitivity of preoperative MRI was 100%, while the sensitivity of ultrasound was 63.2%. And the diagnosing accuracy rate of preoperative MRI was 36.8%. Preoperative MRI is helpful in the diagnosis of non-subungual glomus tumor in fingers. Ultrasound can be used as a supplemental examination technique, and the results depend on the operator and tumor location. Surgical excision is an effective therapy for non-subungual GT in the fingers.