We report a rare case of meningocoele of the fallopian canal resulting in recurrent meningitis.

We present a case report together with a review of the world literature concerning meningocoele of the fallopian canal and meningitis.

A child developed profound, bilateral, sensorineural hearing loss as a result of meningitis caused by a meningocoele of the fallopian canal. He was treated with bilateral cochlear implantation, with a subtotal petrosectomy and middle ear and eustachian tube obliteration on the affected side.

Meningocoele of the fallopian canal has rarely been reported. This lesion can present with recurrent meningitis and, rarely, with facial weakness. All children with recurrent meningitis should be investigated for skull base defects. Treatment aims to prevent further episodes of meningitis; we recommend that this is best achieved by the technique of subtotal petrosectomy, with obliteration of the middle ear and eustachian tube.

We report the case of a man presenting with a tonsillar mass causing difficult breathing, snoring and disturbed sleep.

Case report.

The patient was found to have a fibroepithelial polyp of the left tonsil.

To our knowledge, this is the first case of its type to be presented in the English-language literature. The case is presented and the tumour and its management are discussed.

To report a rare case of primary meningioma of the middle ear.

We describe the case of a 55-year-old woman who presented with decreased hearing and fullness in the left ear, with a middle-ear mass. We also review the world literature regarding primary extracranial meningioma of the middle ear and its management.

Primary middle-ear meningioma, a rare clinical entity, was diagnosed in this patient based on an initial transmastoid biopsy. Magnetic resonance imaging with gadolinium enhancement excluded the presence of an intracranial component. Complete excision of the tumour was achieved using a combined approach tympanoplasty. The patient had an uneventful post-operative course.

Meningiomas, although rare in the middle ear, need to be included in the differential diagnosis of middle-ear lesions presenting to the otolaryngologist. This case emphasises the management strategy required when dealing with a middle-ear mass.

To highlight the possibility of internal carotid artery dissection following canalith repositioning procedures.

A 52-year-old woman with right posterior canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo sustained a right carotid artery dissection following a canalith repositioning procedure. The patient also had profound mixed hearing loss associated with otosclerosis, so underwent simultaneous cochlear implantation and occlusion of her posterior semicircular canal, following completion of anticoagulation therapy for her dissection.

While internal carotid artery trauma is a rare adverse outcome following canalith repositioning procedures, clinicians should be aware of this possibility if patients report unusual symptoms following such procedures.

Patients who survive malignant tumours have an increased risk of second neoplasms, including those of the salivary glands. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland is by far the most common type of second salivary gland tumour; other types have rarely been reported. We describe here two patients with a second tumour of the salivary glands.

The first patient was a 22-year-old woman with a low grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland, which developed 21 years after completion of chemoradiotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. The second patient was a 40-year-old woman with an epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of the buccal mucosa, which arose 11 years after treatment for two malignant neoplasms – retroperitoneal liposarcoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

It is mandatory that survivors of cancer should be monitored carefully, so that the complications related to their previous disease and therapy are detected early and managed properly.