Focal fatty change of the liver is a rare and poorly recognised entity. Most of the previously reported cases occurred in patients suffering from the usual steatogenic conditions, such as diabetes mellitus and obesity. The focality of the lesion, however, remains unexplained. The author reports a rare case of subcapsular focal fatty change of the liver occurring in a 60-year-old Chinese woman suffering from poorly controlled adult-onset diabetes mellitus. The underlying pathogenesis for the focal fatty change is thought to be related to local ischaemic effect secondary to diabetic angiopathy, which may further enhance the steatogenicity of diabetes mellitus. The recognition of focal fatty change of the liver is important in order to avoid misdiagnosis of other space-occupying lesions radiologically and macroscopically.

We report the case of a 25-year-old woman who presented with paralytic ileus, interstitial cystitis and bilateral hydronephrosis with systemic lupus erythematosus being the probable underlying aetiology. This uncommon association-the first case described in our locality-may represent a specific subgroup found in lupus patients.

A case of eosinophilic granuloma of the ilium is reported, in which the patient was examined by magnetic resonance imaging for post-operative evaluation purposes. Magnetic resonance imaging, combined with contrast enhancement and fat suppression technique, is a sensitive way of detecting recurrent eosinophilic granuloma involving the bony skeleton.

DiGeorge anomaly comprises hypoparathyroidism, thymic aplasia, conotruncal cardiac anomaly and dysmorphic features. Most cases result from a microdeletion within chromosome 22q11. We report a case of documented DiGeorge anomaly and the use of high resolution cytogenetic analysis and the fluorescence in situ hybridization technique are discussed.

We report a patient with rapidly fatal idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome presenting with tetraparesis and acute congestive heart failure. Post-mortem examination showed extensive myocardial necrosis but no pathology in the brain. The possible mechanisms leading to organ damage and the treatment of this condition are discussed.