Glomus tumor of the trachea: value of multidetector computed tomographic virtual bronchoscopy

Glomus tumor of the trachea is extremely rare. We report a case of tracheal glomus tumor in a 39-year-old man who presented with hemoptysis. The diagnosis was made after bronchoscopic biopsy of a tumor involving the posterior wall of the upper trachea. Thin-section multidetector computed tomography of the chest was performed before surgical resection, with multiplanar re-formations and 3-dimensional virtual bronchoscopic reconstruction. Tracheal sleeve resection with reconstruction was successful, and pathological studies confirmed complete resection and the diagnosis of glomus tumor. The patient was disease-free 3 months postoperatively. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in which additional computed postprocessing was used to help evaluate the extent of such a tumor.