We report a case of bacterial necrotising fasciitis complicated by the rare fungus Absidia corymbifera. Although this fungal infection is rare, the prognosis is poor and it therefore requires attention. Only 30 cases have been reported since 1874, and we are the first group to report this clinical scenario in our locality. Using a comprehensive journal review, we discuss the expected clinical course and optimal management.

Currently, when stroke patients are offered thrombolytic therapy, their ischaemic stroke subtypes are usually unknown. Given the risk of haemorrhage that accompanies thrombolytic therapy, unselective (or undiscriminating) use of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator in patients without large-artery thromboemboli is potentially hazardous. Advances in computed tomography techniques have enabled the stroke pathophysiology to be quickly delineated by multimodal computed tomography without compromise in time for recombinant tissue plasminogen activator administration. Through description of the investigation of a typical stroke patient, we report how this technique is feasible in a regional hospital and may guide judicious use of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator.

We report on two cases where breast magnetic resonance imaging examination changed clinical management. Breast magnetic resonance imaging is now recognised as an indispensable adjunctive examination to mammography and ultrasound. In each of the two cases described, breast magnetic resonance imaging revealed unsuspected, extensive, and mammographically and ultrasonologically occult, ductal carcinoma in situ. In each of these cases, planned breast conserving surgery was changed to mastectomy. The success of breast conservation treatment depends on removal of all tumour with clear margins at the time of surgery. Magnetic resonance imaging is now considered the most sensitive method for evaluating the extent of breast cancer. Breast magnetic resonance imaging has a very high sensitivity for invasive carcinoma (near 100%), and recent studies show its specificity in high-risk patients is between 93 and 99%. Magnetic resonance imaging may well be proven an important adjunctive examination in patients who have dense breasts or extensive fibrocystic change.

Arteriovenous malformations are rare in the head and neck region and generally arise from intracranial vessels. We present two rare cases with spontaneous arteriovenous malformations related to the ear. The role of magnetic resonance imaging and colour Doppler sonography in the diagnosis and management of such cases is discussed along with a review of the literature.

Small bowel metastases from a primary lung carcinoma are rare. We report a case of a 59-year-old male with a primary small-cell lung carcinoma who developed anaemia and bowel symptoms. On colonoscopic examination he was found to have a tumour in the caecum near the ileocaecal valve, which was biopsied, revealing small neuroendocrine tumour cells. The patient then underwent systemic chemotherapy, which achieved a reduction in the size of the primary lung tumour and an improvement in his bowel symptoms. It is important that such a rare condition be recognised early as complicated intestinal metastases from a lung carcinoma can lead to high mortality rates and poor short-term outcome. With advances in chemotherapy and palliative care, patients with metastatic lung carcinoma can sometimes survive more than a year with reasonable quality of life.