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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Revista Iberoamericana de Cirugía de la Mano 2022; 50(01): e27-e33
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1744466
Original Article | Artículo Original

Epidemiological Analysis of Glomus Tumors of the Hand and Association with Recurrence Rate

Article in several languages: English | español
Giovanni Vilardo Cerqueira Guedes 
1   Division of Hand Surgery, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia Jammil Haddad (INTO), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
,
Daniel Torres Jácome 
1   Division of Hand Surgery, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia Jammil Haddad (INTO), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
,
Gabriel Farias Alves 
2   Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia Jammil Haddad (INTO), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
,
Anderson Vieira Monteiro 
1   Division of Hand Surgery, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia Jammil Haddad (INTO), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
› Author Affiliations Funding Statement The authors have received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of the present article.
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Abstract

Introduction Glomus tumors are benign, characterized by microvascular alteration, and mostly found in the subungual region of the hand. They are rare and associated with paroxysmal pain, tenderness on palpation, and thermal sensitivity. The aim of the present research was to analyze the epidemiology of glomus tumors and relate each of the variables with cases of recurrence.

Materials and Methods A retrospective review of medical records was undertaken in our hospital to collect epidemiological numerical variables (time between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis and surgery, age, size of the tumor on magnetic resonance imaging and the histopathological examination, time until recurrence and reoperation after surgery, duration of the follow-up) and categorical variables (gender, ethnicity, laterality, affected finger, location in the hand, surgical technique, smoking, preoperative symptoms, recurrence, and comorbidities). Then, we performed a statistical analysis to identify possible associations of the hand tumors with recurrences.

Results The review identified 66 patients with glomus tumors 52 of which were located in the hand. The mean age of the sample was 49 years, and it was mostly composed of white female patients. Pain was the main related symptom, and most tumors presented sizes between 5 mm and 1 cm. Among the 52 patients, 11 cases presented recurrences, with a mean time until onset of 39.4 months, but 3 of them were initially operated on at other hospitals. None of the variables was shown to be a predictor of recurrence, although we saw that bone involvement on radiographs was only present in certain cases of recurrence.

Conclusion The sample studied was large for this rare disease, and reinforced previous results regarding its epidemiology. As 54% of the cases of recurrence occurred at least twice, we think that genetic, histological and immunohistochemical analyses should be the focus of futures studies, as well as a search for bone and tendon involvement.

Keywords

epidemiology - glomus tumor - hand

Ethical Approval Declaration

Ethical approval to report this case was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia Jamil Haddad (INTO).


Informed Consent Declaration

A waiver of written informed consent was obtained according to the Ethics Committee of Instituto Nacional de Traumatologia e Ortopedia Jamil Haddad (INTO)


Contributorship Details

Giovanni Guedes and Gabriel Alves wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript and approved the final version.




Publication History

Received: 22 December 2021

Accepted: 08 February 2022

Article published online:
23 June 2022

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