A 32-year-old man presented to the otolaryngology department with acute dysphagia after vomiting. Radiological investigation suggested a piece of meat lodged in the lower oesophagus and rigid oesophagoscopy was performed. However, a plastic shotgun cartridge wad was found and removed. This had gained access to the stomach when the patient had been shot at point-blank range 18 months previously, and appeared to have been forced into the oesophagus by the vomiting, where it caused obstruction.

Meningiomas can occur at excranial and extraspinal sites such as the nose, nasopharynx and paranasal sinuses. Meningioma of the tonsil has seldom been described. We report a case of ectopic meningioma of the left palatine tonsil, in a 50-year-old male with no clinical or radiological evidence of an intracranial lesion. Follow-up at six months revealed no evidence of recurrence.

We report a hitherto undescribed case of co-existence of a pleomorphic adenoma and a tubular basal cell adenoma affecting the superficial lobe of the left parotid gland of a 53-year-old man. The histology of the pleomorphic adenoma is also of interest in that the prominent adipose metaplasia of its myxoid stroma yielded an appearance reminiscent of myxoid lipoma. The tubular basal cell adenoma showed gross cystic change, and its solid portion consisted of closely packed tubules lined by double layers of cuboidal cells with little intervening stroma. Unlike Warthin's tumour and membranous basal cell adenoma, both pleomorphic and tubular basal cell adenomas exhibit no propensity towards multicentricity or bilaterality. We, therefore, believe that their co-existence in the superficial lobe of the parotid gland of our patient is a mere concidence rather than association.