Abstract
Glomangiomas are rare and benign hamartomas that commonly occur in the upper extremities. It is not typical for benign glomangiomas to be larger than one centimeter in size, and they usually present as a faint, blue-red subungual papule associated with a triad of symptoms of paroxysmal pain, pain with cold exposure, and tenderness to touch.
We herein report a case of a 72-year-old man with multiple comorbidities presented to our clinic as a case of right-hand middle finger swelling for the past five years. Initially, it was not painful. However, the pain became more noticeable when he lowers his hand, and it was relieved when he kept it elevated. There were no skin changes around it with minimal tenderness over the swelling. Hand MRI demonstrated a well-defined small lobulated nodule at the radial aspect of the middle finger, at the level of the middle phalanx with no invasion to an adjacent structure. Surgical excision was done and the patient was diagnosed by histopathology to have glomangioma.
Glomangiomas, also known as glomus tumors, are rare and benign hamartomas that commonly occur in the upper extremities. The hand is the most common site for glomus tumors, particularly the subungual area, the lateral aspect of the digits, and the palms. Female patients are the most common to present with subungual glomangioma. Multiple papers reported different presentations, and due to the rarity of the conditions and overlapping in clinical and imaging characteristics with other conditions, it was challenging to diagnose.
Such atypical cases must be approached with high clinical suspicion and proper imaging and investigations so as to not delay diagnosis and management.