Auditory Brainstem Evoked Potentials (ABEP) were recorded from 53 adult subjects suffering from sudden deafness at the time of examination. The onset of sudden deafness was up to three years prior to the study. ABEP were recorded in response to 75 dBHL clicks presented at rates of 10/sec and 40/sec. ABEP peak latencies as well as interpeak latency differences, and also the effect of increasing stimulus rate, were determined for each patient and compared with the clinical symptoms. The psychoacoustic and ABEP detection thresholds were also compared.

A highly significant correlation was observed between ABEP detection threshold and the psychoacoustically determined hearing threshold, and the differences between them were found to be insignificant. The results of this study indicate a central component in sudden deafness. This impairment manifests itself in abnormal effects of increasing stimulus rate on ABEP, and may be related to reduced central synaptic efficacy.

The object of this double-blind study was to assess the therapeutic effects of a combination of two per cent sodium cromoglycate and 0.025 per cent xylometazoline compared with a matched placebo. Forty patients were included in the two-week study.

The treatment was found to be rapidly effective taking only a day to control symptoms in almost 80 per cent of the patients in the group receiving active treatment.

No evidence of rebound effects due to the decongestant was observed during the study.

A case of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue was complicated by post operative hyponatraemia. The criteria for the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of anti diuretic hormone, [ADH] (SIADH) were met but the patient remained hyponatraemic despite adequate treatment. The patient had previously received radical external radiotherapy to the neck and was found to be profoundly hypothyroid. Correction of the hypothyroid state led to clinical and biochemical recovery. The frequency of post-irradiation hypothyroidism and the possible mechanisms of hypothyroid-induced hyponatraemia are discussed

Pseudodysphagia is the description of the sensation of a feeling of a lump in the throat—commonly known as the globus symptom. A prospective analysis of 145 consecutive patients with this symptom seen by an Otolaryngologist has provided confirmation that a high proportion of these patients have a treatable basis for their complaints and that most can be successfully managed without time-consuming and expensive investigations—provided clinical evaluation includes thorough visualisation of the oropharynx and supraglottis. The explanation for the symptomatology in patients who suffer from reflux oesophagitis is probably referred pain from the region of the lower oesophageal sphincter rather than spasm of the upper sphincter. The expression globus hystericus is outdated and should be discarded, and we recommended describing the symptoms as primary globus pharyngeus when there is no evident cause and secondary globus pharyngeus when the aetiology is detectable.

Among the possible complications of stapedectomy for otosclerosis, cholesteatoma is extremely rare. We report a case which was secondary to implantation of keratinising squamous epithelium inadvertantly included in the fat graft taken from the ear lobe'to seal the footplate.

Intracranial or spinal gangliogliomas of the CNS are rare tumours. Although several cases have been reported over the years, controversy still remains as to their origin, treatment and prognosis. A case of an eight-year-old girl with a ganglioglioma in the cerebellum with extension into the cerebello-pontine angle is described. The histological basis of the diagnosis is discussed and a review of the literature is presented.

A case of early-onset bilateral sensori-neural deafness with episodic objective vertigo, tinnitus and vomiting, suggestive of Meniere's syndrome, was found to have a diffuse goitre. A Perchlorate discharge test was positive, indicating an organification defect diagnostic of Pendred's syndrome. The case was found to be euthyroid both clinically and on investigations. Tone decay was absent and recruitment was found, thus indicating a cochlear site of lesion. Bithermal caloric tests and clinical tests of vestibular function were within normal limits. X-rays, including petrous tomography, did not show any abnormalities.

A case report of a patient with adenocarcinoma of the breast with matastasis to the nasopharynx is described. The patient presented initially with pulmonary metastasis followed later by metastasis to the left jugulo-digastric lymph nodes. A prominent but asymptomatic nasopharyngeal mass was concomitantly discovered on head and neck examination. Three months later, symptoms of panhypopituitarism developed. Invasion of the base of the skull and pituitary were documented. Patients with adenocarcinoma of the breast and high cervical node metastasis should have a thorough otolaryngologic and head and neck evaluation.

Metastatic carcinoma to the nasopharynx is an extremely rare occurrence. Only two cases of bronchogenic carcinoma of the lung and two cases of hypernephroma metastatic to the nasopharynx have been reported in the literature (Bernstein et al., 1966). We present what we believe to be the first case of metastatic adenocarcinoma of the breast to the nasopharynx.