The diagnosis of parotid gland involvement with tuberculosis has traditionally been made after superficial parotidectomy. We present four cases that suggest that fine needle aspiration cytology followed by antituberculous therapy can avoid the need for surgery in this uncommon condition.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma is the commonest tumour of minor salivary glands. In the case described here a pulmonary mass was found. This was likely to be a distant metastasis, particularly as the primary tumour was of cribriform subtype with perineural invasion and resection was microscopically incomplete. However, surgical excision of the pulmonary mass enabled histopathological studies to be carried out which found it to be an unrelated bronchioloalveolar carcinoma.

A case of giant amyloidoma in the left tonsil with extensive osseous metaplasia and a scanty and patchy monoclonal population of IgG Kappa plasma cells, is presented.

Localized tumoral amyloidosis is a rare, benign tumour of the upper aerodigestive tract. Organ-limited amyloidosis has been shown to be confined to various systems but, since the lesion was first described, only four cases situated in the tonsils have been reported in the English literature, and none of these had either osseous metaplasia or a monoclonal population of IgG Kappaplasma cells.

A rare case of cellular benign fibrous histiocytoma (BFH) of the external auditory canal is presented with a discussion of its pathology and management.

We describe a malignant lymphoma of the parotid gland arising in a patient with Sjögren's syndrome. Diagnosis was established on needle biopsy which showed a mixed population of lymphoid cells. Immunohistochemistry revealed B-lymphoid cells, T-lymphoid cells and histiocytes. Clonal immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangement was demonstrated using the polymerase chain reaction. Within the confines of the small biopsy, the lesion qualifies for the designation T-cell-rich histiocyte-rich B-cell lymphoma. The value of molecular techniques in the diagnosis of malignant lymphoma on limited tissue samples is highlighted by this case.

Hairy polyps or dermoids of the oro- and naso-pharynx are benign lesions containing elements of both ectodermal and mesodermal origin. We report a case of a hairy polyp arising from the tonsil in a three-week-old infant. This presented as an intermittent swelling in the mouth, which was successfully removed under general anaesthesia. To our knowledge this is only the third case of a hairy polyp arising at this site to be reported. We discuss the terminology applied to these lesions and review the literature.