Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of a glomus tumor of the stomach

A glomus tumor of the stomach was found as an incidental finding on routine ultrasound in a 72-yr-old asymptomatic woman. A fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) was performed and was initially interpreted as a well-differentiated neuroendocrine neoplasm, possibly a carcinoid tumor. The aspirate revealed tightly packed nests or clusters of uniform, small, round to polygonal cells with scanty, faintly eosinophilic or clear cytoplasm and ill-defined cell borders. The nuclei were uniform, and round to oval, and contained a granular chromatin pattern and inconspicuous nucleoli. Very occasional intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions were seen. Laparotomy and a wedge resection of the stomach were performed. The surgical pathology findings revealed a glomus tumor which was confirmed by immunohistochemical stains and ultrastructural studies. Since glomus tumors of the stomach are essentially benign and are amenable to conservative excision, it is important to separate them, preoperatively, from more aggressive gastric neoplasms. FNAB offers a rapid, cost-effective method of diagnosing this entity. We present the cytological, histological, ultrastructural, and immunocytochemical features of this particular gastric neoplasm, along with differential diagnoses.