Angioleiomyoma: An Uncommon Entity in the Nasal Cavity

Background and Objectives Nasal angioleiomyoma, being a very rare tumor, makes up less than 1% of all angioleiomyomas and is rarely diagnosed preoperatively due to nonspecific and inconclusive radiological and clinical findings. Proper diagnosis and appropriate surgical removal are thus necessary to prevent recurrence. This study focuses on the role of endoscopic transnasal surgery as a minimally invasive approach for the effective treatment of the tumor. We investigated 10 cases to evaluate their diagnosis and surgical outcomes.Subjects and Method In this study, we retrospectively analyzed 10 patients diagnosed with nasal angioleiomyoma in our hospital from May 2003 to June 2022. We reviewed their data regarding clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, follow-up duration, and recurrence.Results The diagnosis was more common in females (female:male ratio, 2.3:1) and the mean age at diagnosis was 52.8 years. The most common location was the inferior turbinate, and patients commonly presented with nasal obstruction and epistaxis. The mean tumor size was 1.5 cm. A well-defined, heterogeneously enhancing mass in the nasal cavity was revealed from the CT of the paranasal sinuses. The venous type was most common histologically. All patients underwent transnasal endoscopic excision, and there were no recurrences.Conclusion Nasal angioleiomyoma typically manifests as a small, painless mass, and we found that transnasal endoscopic excision is a minimally invasive and useful treatment technique with excellent outcomes. For the accurate diagnosis of nasal angioleiomyoma, which is challenging to clinically diagnose, it would be necessary to consider a differential diagnosis and conduct detailed histopathological examination.