GLOMUS TUMOURS

Abstract

Glomus tumours of the temporal bone occur in the region of the jugular bulb and middle ear. Theyare rare, highly vascular, slow growing tumours and most are benign. Tumours that originate from the jugular bulb andextend to involve the middle ear are referred to as glomus jugulare tumours. Those that are found in the middle eararound the otic ganglia in the tympanic plexus are known as Glomus tympanicum. These tumours occur predominantlyin women in the fifth and sixth decades of life. Because of the insidious onset of symptoms, these tumours often gounnoticed and there is often a significant delay in diagnosis. Morbidity in these cases is determined by their size andposition. Objectives: 1. To study the age/sex incidence of patients suffering from glomus tumours of the temporalbone. 2. To see various clinical presentations with which these tumours present and their variation according to theage and sex. Design: Our study design was non-inter-ventional descriptive. Settings: This study was performed atCMH Rawalpindi and Multan from January 2000 to June 2002. Subjects: We included ten patients of glomus tumoursof the temporal bone in our study. 8 out of these were females and two were males. Though most of the patientsbelonged to middle age group yet few were also from the younger and older groups. Interventions: All the patientsunderwent CT scan with and without contrast, MRI of the requisite site and carotid angiography. Results: We foundthat these tumours were predominantly present in females, mostly in the middle age group. Individual symptoms werestudied in detail and their presence was found to be directly proportional to the increasing age of patients. Conclusion:It is concluded that due to the slow growth of this tumour the diagnosis is often delayed until it is extensive. Thereforeclinicians should be more vigilant about this rare disease and must keep it in their differentials.