Introduction.

Glomus tumors originate from glomus bodies, which are structures with thermoregulatory function and are distributed throughout the human body, mainly at the distal level of the extremities where it is common to find these characteristic lesions. Although, there are case reports of neoformation presentations with more unusual locations. Their etiology is still unknown. Many times when there is evidence of lesions in atypical areas they are not suspected in many patients and the diagnosis is made incidentally by imaging and/or anatomopathological studies.

Clinical case.

A 66-year-old female patient with the presence of a glomus tumor in the airway diagnosed by histopathology and immunohistochemistry, underwent surgical resection and presented good evolution after surgery.

Discussion.

This atypical presentation of glomus tumor in the airway presents mainly with symptoms and signs related to airway obstruction. Timely management is paramount in these patients, and the definitive diagnosis is by histopathology and immunohistochemistry where the presence of the characteristics of glomus cells, vascular structures, smooth muscle and immunostaining positivity towards some markers such as smooth muscle actin, CD34, muscle specific actin, among others, are seen.

Conclusion.

This type of tumors are rare benign neoformations, with common presentations in distal areas. Their appearance depends on intrinsic and extrinsic factors of the patients and their recurrence rate is very low compared to other tumors.

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