A case report of a glomus tumour with severe local pain

Authors: Suto, Takashi; Hardy-Yamada, Makiko; Kakinuma, Toshie; Miyazaki, Masumi; Shimada, Hitoshi; Sato, June; Saito, Shigeru

Source: The Pain Clinic, Volume 19, Number 1, 2007 , pp. 41-42(2)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

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Abstract:

Background: A 70-year-old female patient presented with subungual pain in her left, middle finger. Her sole symptom was severe pain.

Methods: Various methods of diagnostic imaging, including X-ray and CT scan, revealed no apparent objective finding.

Results: When she came to our clinic, the pain had continued for 10 years without amelioration or decisive diagnosis. Her chief complaint was spontaneous pain in the finger, and severe tenderness. Swelling and redness were not observed around the site of pain. X-rays and CT examinations of her hand showed no abnormality in the phalanx or soft tissues. Since a glomus tumour was strongly suspected due to her clinical history, a fenestration operation was scheduled. A tumour approximately 4 mm in diameter was excised from under her nail bed. Its pathological diagnosis was glomus tumour. Her pain disappeared after surgery, and no recurrence was observed at more than 2 years' follow-up.

Conclusions: Pain clinicians should suspect a glomus tumour, when a patient has severe finger pain without objective findings.

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Keywords: NO OBJECTIVE FINDINGS; PSYCHOSOMATIC DISEASE; GLOMUS TUMOUR

Document Type: Case Report

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/016911107X217491

Publication date: 2007-08-01

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