A case of occult sphenoid sinusitis was diagnosed by an MRI scan in a patient who presented clinically with meningism and unilateral parotid swelling. Although the patient improved with a prolonged course of antibiotics complete resolution occurred only after surgical drainage of the affected sinus.

Canalicular adenoma is a recently classified uncommon salivary gland neoplasm. This biologically benign growth tends to be multifocal and occurs most often in the upper lips of elderly people. Histologically and clinically it differs from the basal cell adenoma, for which it may be mistaken, in a number of ways. Its clinical importance lies in the fact that it may be confused with malignancy. Little information is available regarding the recurrence and long-term follow-up of these tumours, and where available it covers only relatively short periods.

We report the recurrence of a canalicular adenoma after an 11.2 year disease-free period.

We report a case of a 35-year-old man who died of a brain infarct 20 months after radiotherapy for carcinoma of the tonsil with metastases to the cervical lymph nodes. Histology revealed mild atherosclerosis, necrotizing vasculitis, and occlusive thrombosis of the internal carotid artery. Significant changes were observed in the vasa vasorum: swelling and detachment of the endothelium, subendothelial oedema, hyaline change, fibrinoid necrosis of the vessel walls with mononuclear cellular infiltration, accompanied by focal haemorrhages and chronic inflammation in the periadventitial soft tissue. We believe that these changes of the vasa vasorum and necrotizing vasculitis are causally related and that vasculitis represents focal ischaemic necroses with inflammatory reaction. Our findings support the hypothesis, based on experimental studies, that injury to the vasa vasorum is an important mechanism in the development of radiation-induced vasculopathy of large arteries. They also suggest an evolution of the injury to the vasa vasorum and periadventitial tissue from the early lesions described in our patient, to late stages resulting in dense periadventitial fibrosis as reported previously. We suggest that injury to the vasa vasorum and the consequent ischaemic lesions of the arterial wall are morphological features distinguishing radiation-induced arterial injury from spontaneous atherosclerosis.