MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING OF GLOMUS TUMOR IN THE HAND

Glomus tumours of the hand are benign tumours that arise from the neur omyoarterial apparatus. The most common site for a glomus tumour is in the distal phalanx. They frequently display a classic triad of sympto ms - pain, tenderness and temperature sensitivity. Ten treated cases e xamined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) preoperatively are descr ibed. All were female with a mean age of 43 years. All except 2 suffer ed the classic triad of symptoms. The mean duration from onset of symp toms to therapeutic intervention was 7.4 years. MRI depicted the tumou rs in excellent detail and aided diagnosis in the 4 patients without s ubungual blue discolouration. The lesions showed a low signal on the T 1-weighted image and a high signal on the T2-weighted image. All excep t 3 were located in the subungual region. All patients underwent surgi cal excision with pathological confirmation. The postoperative course was smooth and there were no sequelae. High resolution MRI, providing a clear contrast between tumorous and normal tissues, has proved to be a useful non-invasive method for imaging glomus rumours in the hand.