A case of Burkitt's lymphoma involving the tonsil in a 10-year-old Bedouin boy, is presented. The biological behaviour and the clinical presentation of this unusual neoplasm are discussed and the English language literature is reviewed.

The diagnosis was made by histological examination, electron microscopy and confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The patient showed an excellent symptomatic response to surgery and chemotherapy.

Metastases to the larynx from distant primaries are very rare. Usually the secondary lesjon comes from an hypemephroma or malignant melanoma. A case of metastatic laryngeal tumour from a colonic adenocarcinoma, occurring in a 59-year-old woman, is presented and the routes for laryngeal spread are discussed. The poor survival-rate of these patients justified only conservative surgery.

A case of cervical thorotrast granuloma and its surgical complications is presented. The properties and usage of thorotrast and its later complications are described, and the management of the complications is discussed. It is emphasized that there is usually a long latent period between thorotrast exposure and the advent of complications and perhaps more cases of similar difficulty may be anticipated in the future.

We report a case in which a squamous cell carcinoma was found to have arisen from a delto-pectoral skin flap used in pharyngeal reconstruction. The flap had been forming a neo-pharynx for 24 years. No other signs of recurrent disease had developed in this period. This raises the possibility of tumour induction in heterotopic skin used for oropharyngeal reconstruction.

A case of basal cell adenocarcinoma of the parotid gland is reported. Histologically it is to be distinguished from basal cell adenoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma. Clinically the presentation may appear benign. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice. The prognosis is uncertain because of lack of follow-up data.

A 67-year-old man presented with a 45-year history of a weak voice. This was the result of polio which had left him with a right vocal cord palsy.

The patient underwent a Teflon injection of the right vocal cord under general anaesthesia to improve the quality of his voice. In the immediate post-operative period, he suffered acute upper airway obstruction. The problem of acute upper airway obstruction following Teflon injection is considered and its management with nebulized adrenaline and a helium/oxygen mixture is discussed.

Though a rare lesion a parathyroid cyst is of clinical significance because it usually mimics a thyroid cyst and can be associated with hyperparathyroidism. The cyst can be ectopic with location in the lateral neck or in the mediastinum and therefore constitutes a differential diagnosis to a branchial or thymic cyst.

A case report of a mediastinal parathyroid cyst without hyperparathyroidism is presented. Fine needle aspiration with parathyroid hormone assay on the cyst fluid will reveal the correct diagnosis. Surgical removal of the cyst is recommended, and hyperparathyroidism should be considered.

The combination of a parapharyngeal abscess and torticollis in an adult, due to a spastic contraction of the sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle is an extremely rare condition. We have recently been exposed to such a case, in which it was very difficult to make the diagnosis and where CT of the neck gave us the answers without any difficulty. The indication for CT at an early stage in unexplained neck infections is stressed.

A case of liver metastases from a squamous carcinoma arising within a pleomorphic adenoma is presented. The literature is reviewed and the clinical features, pathology and treatment of these tumours are discussed briefly.

A Case report of a laryngeal malignant mesenchymoma, a very rare head and neck and even rarer laryngeal leison, is reported.

In this case, an 85-years-old man, who had undergone several panendoscopies and biopsies that were non-diagnostic, subsequently succumbed to pulmonary metastases and died from respiratory failure. At autospy, tumour cells were demonstrated to constiute both bone and straited muscle cell types. As the tumour cells differentiated into two types of specialized cells from one type of embryonal tissue, the diagnosis of maligant mesenchymoma was established.

A baby born at 23 weeks gestation could not be extubated at 34 weeks and nine weeks intubation was causing laryngeal granulation. Anterior cricoid release saved the infant from a tracheostomy.

The case is reported because of (a) the prematurity and small size of the neonate and (b) the microsurgical technique and non-penetration of tracheal mucosa, neither of which have been addressed in previous publications.

Malignant transformation of an adenolymphoma (Warthin's tumour) is a rare event. This paper presents a case of carcinoma arising in an adenolymphoma of the parotid gland.

Four cases, two personal, of mis-diagnosis of tuberculosis of the upper respiratory tract as Wegener's granulomatosis have been presented. Greater awareness of this possibility of mis-diagnosis may diminish the possibility of mistreatment. It is suggested that fresh specimens should be sent for bacteriological examination and culture in all relevant upper respiratory tract lesions.

A case of intralaryngotracheal thyroid in a 57-year-old man is presented. The treatment modalities are considered and the previous literature is reviewed.

A case of symptomatic recurrent adenoidal hypertrophy, as the presenting feature of HIV infection in a haemophiliac child, is reported. The incidence of non-malignant nasopharyngeal lymphoid hyperplasia in HIV infection is examined and the relevance of the histological appearance is discussed in relation to progression of disease.

The former view of infectious mononucleosis as an invariably benign disease has been modified in recent years by reports of life-threatening complications. A case is presented of a deep cervical abscess complicating infectious mononucleosis which came close to a fatal conclusion. The implications for the management of the illness are discussed in the light of this rare event, no exactly similar instance of which has been recorded.