Twenty-five patients with thirty ears affected by tuberculosis of the middle ear cleft were diagnosed and treated at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, during the years 1972 to 1983. This series is a sequel to the series of 1967 to 1971 and reported by Sellars and Seid (1973). The classical disease presentation will be reviewed and compared to that found in our patients. The modern trends in diagnosis and management will be discussed. The emphasis is on early diagnosis and treatment in an eminently curable disease.

We present in this paper the indications for bony reconstruction following mandibular resection, together with evaluation of the reconstructive techniques available. Case reports illustrate methods we have found satisfactory and are followed by our recommendations for their specific use.

The drooling that accompanies motor neurone disorders adds to the burden of an individual already severely handicapped socially. Control of this problem can be achieved by a number of measures, such as the surgical repositioning of the salivary gland ducts and by use of medical or surgical means of reducing salivary production.

Nineteen patients aged 5 to 9 years, with excessive drooling as a result of perinatal brain damage, have been treated surgically at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, by bilateral tympanic neurectomies, unilateral chorda tympani nerve section and contralateral submandibular gland excision. In all 19, salivary flow was reduced and the drooling problem significantly improved. No post-operative complications occurred.

We present nine patients with tuberculous laryngitis seen in our otolaryngology out-patient department during the year of 1983. Four patients were previously diagnosed as having pulmonary tuberculosis and were receiving or had received treatment for the complaint prior to our consultation. Of the nine patients, eight had positive chest X-rays for pulmonary tuberculosis. Three patients were known to have positive sputum results; in three patients the result was not known, whilst in the remaining three patients the result was recorded as negative. Biopsies done on four patients were compatible with the diagnosis of tuberculous laryngitis. Two of these four were undisputedly confirmed by the presence of Acid-fast Bacilli on histological sections. Two patients demonstrated permanent structural derangement of the larynx as end-result manifestations. The incidence, site and appearance of the lesions, diagnosis and treatment are discussed.

The beneficial effect of intravenous corticosteroids in preventing traumatic laryngeal edema is controversial. Between 1968 and 1971, a controlled clinical study was conducted, at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, of 70 children who underwent bronchoscopy for removal of foreign bodies from the tracheobronchial tree.

The patients were divided into two randomized groups; one group was given intravenous dexamethasone while the second was kept as a control. The length of hospitalization and the development of complications attributable to tracheobronchial edema were compared. Intravenous corticosteroids do not seem to reduce the incidence of post-bronchoscopy laryngeal edema.

An unusual thyroglossal duct anomaly characterized by a branched tract terminating in two separate cysts is described. The patient presented with a long-standing fistula following previous incomplete excision.

Thyroglossal cysts are common congenital anomalies (Moussatos and Baffes, 1963; Allard, 1982), which do not usually present any diagnostic difficulty. However, they may sometimes present with unusual clinico-pathological features. In this report we describe a branching and polycystic thyroglossal duct abnormality occurring in a young woman with a history of previous surgery for a midline cervical mass.

A case is presented of multiple acinic cell carcinoma, occurring synchronously in the left parotid gland and in the right submaxillary gland of a 75-year-old male patient. Fourteen cases of primary multiple acinic cell carcinoma have previously been reported, all bilateral parotid gland tumours. To our knowledge this is the first report of extraparotid localization of an acinic cell carcinoma in a patient presenting multiple salivary gland tumours. The histologic and ultrastructural characteristics of the tumours are described and a review of the literature is given.