Zhang Y, Zhang QP, Ji YQ, Xu J. Bronchial glomus tumor with calcification: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2021; 9(14): 3320-3326 [PMID: 34002140 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i14.3320]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ying-Qun Ji, MD, PhD, Doctor, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, No. 150 Jimo Road, Pudong District, Shanghai 200120, China. jiyingqun@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. May 16, 2021; 9(14): 3320-3326 Published online May 16, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i14.3320
Bronchial glomus tumor with calcification: A case report
Ying Zhang, Qiu-Ping Zhang, Ying-Qun Ji, Jian Xu
Ying Zhang, Ying-Qun Ji, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116011, Liaoning Province, China
Qiu-Ping Zhang, Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116011, Liaoning Province, China
Ying-Qun Ji, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200120, China
Jian Xu, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Dalian Municipal Central Hospital Affiliated of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116033, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang Y and Ji YQ were the patient’s respiratory physicians, reviewed the literature and contributed to manuscript drafting; Zhang QP performed the pathological analyses and interpretation and contributed to manuscript drafting; Ji YQ and Xu J were responsible for the revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors issued final approval for the version to be submitted.
Supported byThe Study on the Diagnosis and Treatment of COPD Complications Complicated With Diseases, China, No. 2016YFC1304500.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ying-Qun Ji, MD, PhD, Doctor, Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, No. 150 Jimo Road, Pudong District, Shanghai 200120, China. jiyingqun@163.com
Received: October 13, 2020 Peer-review started: October 13, 2020 First decision: February 12, 2021 Revised: February 26, 2021 Accepted: March 23, 2021 Article in press: March 23, 2021 Published online: May 16, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Glomus tumors (GTs), defined by modified smooth cells and normal glomus body cells, usually present with a small mass occurring in the soft tissue or dermis of an extremity, especially in the subungual region. However, other unusual sites, such as the respiratory tract, have also been reported. They are usually sporadic. Their imaging findings are usually nonspecific and likely to appear as a well-delineated round mass that usually lacks calcification. To our knowledge, we report the first case of bronchial GTs with calcification, reminding clinicians and radiologists that GT is one of the differential diagnoses when a calcified nodular mass is found.
CASE SUMMARY
We report a case of a 33-yr-old Chinese man with cough and sputum for 11 d and hemoptysis for 5 d. Chest computed tomography revealed a calcified nodular lesion on the compressed posterior wall of the lower left main bronchus and bronchiectasis in the lower lobe of the left lung. To confirm the characteristics of calcified nodules, we performed fiberoptic bronchoscopy. The tumor tissue from the biopsy of bronchial mucosal lesions established the diagnosis of GT. Because the patient had no life-threatening symptoms, he was not treated with surgery. Clinical follow-up for 25 mo showed that the patient survived well without any discomfort.
CONCLUSION
Bronchial GTs are usually not accompanied by calcification on computed tomography scans. To our knowledge, we report the first calcified bronchial GT. We recommend that clinicians consider GT as a possible differential diagnosis when a calcified mass of the bronchi is found.
Core Tip: Bronchial glomus tumors (GTs) are rare soft tissue neoplasms. The imaging features of GTs are well-defined masses or nodules without calcification on plain computed tomography scans. On dynamic contrast-enhanced computed tomography images, the tumors were enhanced significantly. In this report, we present a case of bronchial GT with calcification, reminding clinicians that they should consider GT as a differential diagnosis when finding calcified masses in the bronchus.
