A case of peritonsillar abscess in an infant is described, which is a rare lesion in infants and young children. To our knowledge this is the youngest child described in the English literature. The clinical presentation and treatment of peritonsillar abscess in infants and young children are discussed. Serious complications can occur early in the course of the disease because of physiological and anatomical factors and thus early aggressive treatment is required.

Three cases of retropharyngeal haematoma are described. In one case there was underlying aneurysm of the carotid artery which could have led to significant morbidity if undetected.

A case of persistent pneumonia in a depressed adult woman occurring as a complication of the repeated insertion of foreign bodies into the trachea via a tracheostomy is presented. This is an unusual complication of tracheostomy but should be considered in cases of persistent or unusual pulmonary infection in tracheostomy patients.

We report one case of extensive and two of partial pneumatization of the uncinate process from a consecutive series of 250 CT scans of the paranasal sinuses. The CT findings are illustrated and the literature reviewed.

A female infant nine months of age presented with a bilobed swelling at the base of her tongue. Histological examination showed it to be a hamartoma of the tongue. Lingual hamartomas are rare. There are fifteen case reports of lingual hamartoma in the world literature. Our case is presented and the previous case reports are reviewed.