Objective: Glomus tumor of the hand, most often seen in the tips of the fingers, is a lesion originating from the glomus bodies. Glomus tumor is a rare tumor of the hand. The main complaints of the patients are pain, local tenderness and cold intolerance. Glomus tumor is most often diagnosed clinically. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnostic algorithm of glomus tumor.

Materials and Methods: 80 patients who underwent surgery in our clinic between the years 1978-2009 with a diagnosis of glomus tumor were evaluated retrospectively. Preoperative MRI was performed on 22 patients. The diagnosis was confirmed histopathologically in all patients.

Results: 4 of 22 patients had surgery despite a normal MRI, and tumor was diagnosed histopathologically.

Conclusion: It should be kept in mind that magnetic resonance imaging techniques can give false negative results in diagnosis of glomus tumor of the hand. Surgery decision should be based on clinical history and physical examination. Nevertheless magnetic resonance imaging is a valuable diagnostic tool to confirm the diagnosis and to decide surgical exposure.