Glomus Coccygeum

Abstract

The glomus coccygeum is a vestigial structure related to the canals of Sucquet-Hoyer, an arteriovenous anastomosis surrounded by glomus cells derived from modified smooth muscle and involved in thermoregulation. It is an incidental finding in specimens from the sacral area and may represent a diagnostic challenge to the unaware observer. We present a case of a glomus coccygeum, presenting as a 1.5-mm structure adjacent to a typical pilonidal cyst excised from a 7-month-old boy, which was the subject of a second opinion consultation. The lesion showed small to medium sized clusters of predominantly epithelioid cells with moderate amounts of clear to eosinophilic cytoplasm, intercellular borders, and plump, round nuclei with fine chromatin. These cells were closely associated with small vascular channels and nerves. Immunohistochemistry revealed that the epithelioid cells expressed vimentin, muscle-specific actin, neuron-specific enolase, and S-100 protein, were weakly positive for smooth muscle actin, and negative for desmin, synaptophysin, and chromogranin. The endothelial cells of the vascular channels were antibody CD31 positive. Recognition of the histologic features of glomus coccygeum is important to avoid confusion with glomus tumor and neural or smooth muscle neoplasms in the sacral area.