This case report illustrates the value of intravenous digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in cases of penetrating neck injury. The debate continues between a policy of mandatory exploration of all penetrating neck wounds versus one of selective exploration with observation of the remainder. The argument for the former policy is that vascular trauma can occur without clinical signs. Whichever policy is followed a DSA provides invaluable information in strengthening the decision either not to operate or if operating which operation to perform and which approach to use. DSA is a quick, simple and safe investigation that can be carried out at any time of day or night.

An 82-year-old male presented with a two-month history of hoarseness. A 2 cm pedunculated lesion was removed from the base of his epiglottis. Microscopy showed a polypoid atypical spindle cell lesion. Multiple levels failed to reveal an invasive squamous cell carcinoma. On the basis of haematozylin and eosin stained sections the main differential diagnosis was a pseudosarcoma with an overlying dysplastic squamous mucosa or infiltrating spindle cell carcinoma. Immunohistochemistry showed positive staining for vimentin but no convincing staining with antibodies to cytokeratin and EMA. Ultrastructural analysis also failed to reveal epithelial characteristics. Ploidy analysis by static cytophotometry of the spindle cell proliferation revealed an aneuploid stem line with a DNA index of 1.67. On the basis of this the process was felt unlikely to be reactive and a diagnosis of a spindle cell squamous carcinoma was made. This diagnosis was subsequently supported by a clinical recurrence of the nodule at a six-month follow-up.

Clear cell carcinoma of salivary gland is a rare neoplasm. We report a third case of clear cell carcinoma arising in a pleomorphic adenoma and also in an extraparotid location. We document the immunohistochemical profile of the tumour including reactivity with a marker for the c-erbh-2 oncoprotein and suggest a myoepithelial origin for these lesions. The presence of a tetraploid stemline may account for the rapid tumour progression in this case.