Primary Pulmonary Glomus Tumor, Diagnosed by Preoperative Needle Biopsy: Report of One Case and Literature Review

ABSTRACT

Glomus tumors commonly occur in dermal and subcutaneous tissue in the subungal region of a finger. Some glomus tumors occur extracutaneously, including lung. Only 15 cases of primary pulmonary glomus tumor have been described in literature. In this report, we describe a case of primary pulmonary glomus tumor, which is the first case diagnosed before surgical resection. A 51-year-old man underwent a needle biopsy of a well defined coin-like mass in left lower lobe of the lung on chest radiography. Microscopic examination revealed a tumor composed of perivascularly arranged round to ovoid epithelioid cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm. Tumor cells are immunoreactive for smooth muscle actin and vimentin, but negative for desmin, cytokeratin (AE1/AE3), chromogranin, or synaptophysin. A diagnosis of glomus tumor was then made. The lung mass was resected by wedge resection after being diagnosed by preoperative lung needle biopsy. Although primary pulmonary glomus tumor is rare, most cases follows a benign course. For proper treatment of the patient, glomus tumor should be considered as a differential diagnosis of solitary lung mass.