Malignant glomus tumor of the head and neck: A National Cancer Database analysis.

Abstract

e18078 Background: Malignant glomus tumors of the head and neck are rare malignancies originating from glomus bodies found within the skin, soft tissues, and mucosa of the head and neck. Malignant glomus tumors often arise from benign glomus tumors and rarely metastasize. In cases where metastasis had ocurred it was typically fatal. Another review of the malignant glomus tumor cases indicated that only a minority developed metastases. These findings, along with a general lack of knowledge regarding demographic and socioeconomic factors on glomus tumors warrants further investigation. The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was analyzed to identify demographic factors among patients and better understand the epidemiology of these tumors. Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was performed using the 2004–2020 National Cancer Database including patients with a histologically confirmed malignant glomus tumor diagnosis (N = 42). Demographic factors such as race, age, sex, Hispanic status, insurance status, Charlson-Deyo score, facility type, and distance to facility were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 42 patients with a confirmed malignant glomus tumor diagnosis were identified in the National Cancer Database (NCDB) between 2004 – 2020. The average age of diagnosis was 60.9 years (SD = 13.7, range = 36 - 90 years). The aortic body and other paraganglia were the most common primary tumor sites (57.1%). Most patients were White (69.0%) or Black (28.6%). Most individuals (88.1%) had a Charlson-Deyo comorbidity score of 0. A higher percentage of patients were in the bottom quartile of income earners (31.4%). Fewer patients lived in metropolitan counties with populations less than 1 million compared to those that lived in counties with a population greater than 1 million (52.5%). More patients were privately insured (47.6%) relative to those who were insured by Medicare/Medicaid or uninsured. The most common treatment facility type was an academic/research program (57.5%) and patients lived an average of 40.1 miles (SD = 65.6, range = 0.6 – 265.4) from their treatment facility. Conclusions: Before this study, there had been no previous report on the socioeconomic profile of patients with malignant glomus tumors. However, our findings indicate that these patients are more prone to having a low income and that White patients are more likely to be affected. No obvious connection exists between metastases and racial minority status. Additional research is needed to grasp how socioeconomic factors, such as low income and minority status, affect the risk, diagnosis, treatment, and overall survival of individuals with malignant glomus tumors.