Expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors in angioleiomyoma of the nasal cavity of six patients

Angioleiomyoma of the nasal cavity is extremely rare. There are only a small number of studies in the literature that demonstrate that the estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) are expressed in angioleiomyoma, and the results from these studies are inconsistent. The present study identified 6 patients with nasal angioleiomyoma that were treated between 2004 and 2013. All patients underwent endoscopic surgery and were followed-up for 1–10 years. Resected tumors were investigated for the presence of ER and PR using immunoperoxidase staining. Of the 6 patients, 4 were men and 2 were woman. The mean age of the patients was 60.5 years. The tumors of the 6 patients were identified in the nasal septum, middle turbinate, inferior turbinate, lateral wall of the nasal cavity and nasal vestibule. The clinical manifestations reported by the patients consisted of a painless mass, recurrent epistaxis and nasal obstruction. There were no specific features observed in any of the patients using computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. All the patients underwent tumor dissection visualized with a nasal endoscope and recovered without recurrence or malignancy of the tumor post-surgery. Hematoxylin and eosin and immunoperoxidase staining confirmed the diagnosis of angioleiomyoma in all patients. In 5 patients the nuclei of the smooth muscle tumor cells markedly expressed ER and PR. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to demonstrate that ER and PR are clearly expressed in nasal angioleiomyoma. The present study suggests that the sex hormones are possibly associated with the growth of angioleiomyoma.