gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Glomangiomas are infrequently observed tumors preferentially observed in the dermis of the extremities. Very rarely glomangiomas occur in different organs including the respiratory system. Here, we present a primary glomangioma located in the lung of a 48-year-old woman.

Results: A 48-year-old woman, who presented with a incidental finding of a solitary pulmonary lesion in the chest X-ray during preoperative work-up for a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for alimentary obesity. A chest computed tomography (CT) confirmed the expected lesion in the upper left lobe of the lung with a maximum diameter of 31 mm in the axial plane. The patient agreed to a surgical procedure and a pulmonary wedge resection of the upper left lobe via mini-thoracotomy was performed. The histopathological findings presented a classical glomangioma containing highly homogenous glomus cells and partially dilatated blood vessels but without any signs of cellular atypia. The tumor measured 33 mm in the maximal diameter and had contact to the wall of a large bronchus and was surrounded by regular alveolar tissue. Immunohistochemical examinations showed a very low proliferation rate using Mib-1 in under 1% of the cells while SMA was positive in the cytoplasm of almost all tumor cells. Type IV collagene showed a chicken-wire pattern between the cells (negative staining for S100, CD31, and pancytokeratin AE1/AE3).

Conclusion: Primary glomangioma and glomus tumors of the lung are extremely infrequent, so far only 30 cases have been described in the literature. The majority of these cases are reports about glomus tumors, glomangioma as such have been only described in five cases. The biological behavior of the glomangioma seems to be benign according to the follow-up data available, though only in four patients data is available. In our opinion, due to the uncertain biological behavior resection of these tumors is warranted once they have been diagnosed.