Multiple primary malignancies of the upper aerodigestive tract occurring in the same patient are not commonly reported. The incidence varies from 1% to 20%. Second primary malignancy occurring at the same anatomical location is more common than those that arise from a distant location. We report a case of a 52-year-old Malay man who was previously treated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma with chemoradiotherapy and subsequently developed a basal cell carcinoma complicated by multiple recurrences and squamous cell carcinomas of the temporal region and the nose. Such an occurrence has not been previously reported in the literature.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma is a common thyroid malignancy reported world wide. It affects females more commonly in the 4th to 6th decades of life. The patients usually present with a painless anterior neck mass and occasionally with lymph node involvement. We report a case of an elderly male who presented with hoarseness and hemoptysis, which warranted bronchoscopy. Biopsy of the intraluminal tracheal mass revealed the diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Computed tomography scan of the neck confirmed the presence of the primary lesion in the right thyroid lobe with invasion into the adjacent trachea and esophagus.

The unilateral nasal symptom should trigger a treating physician to a certain diagnosis. The differential diagnosis includes foreign body, rhinolith and tumour. The chronicity of symptom helps a lot with the diagnosis. Foreign body for example, tends to present with positive history of insertion, mainly by children or the acute symptom of local infection. In the presence of prolonged symptom, rhinolith should be suspected especially when the patient presents with pathognomonic nasal obstruction with foul smelly discharge. A referral should be made for a nasoendoscopy evaluation whenever a rhinitis-like symptoms remain after a period of medical treatment for allergy. We share a case of a missed diagnosis of a rhinolith after six years of symptoms. Keywords: nose; obstruction; rhinolith; unilateral

Jugular phlebectasia has been increasingly recognised with the advent of non-invasive diagnostic methods. Phlebectasia differs from varix, as it is an abnormal outward dilatation of a vein without tortuosity. It presents as a soft, compressible mass, apparent upon straining or execution of the Valsalva maneuver. The differentials for neck masses are broad, but if the swelling appears on the Valsalva maneuver, the type of mass narrows down to a laryngocele, superior mediastinal mass or phlebectasia. A simple non-invasive investigation, such as ultrasonography, is used as a diagnostic tool. We report a case of jugular phlebectasia that was suspected clinically and confirmed via ultrasound to be a vascular lesion which changed its size upon straining.

Lingual tonsil is a part of Waldeyer’s ring. It consists of lymphoid follicles and subject to proliferation and hypertrophy. Palatine tonsillitis, by far is the commonest cause of odynophagia originating from oropharyngeal region. Lingual tonsillitis is a rare occurrence. We reported a patient who presented with severe odynophagia after two months of palatine tonsillectomy. Examination revealed the lingual tonsils were inflamed and covered with exudates.

Foreign body aspiration in the adult airway is very rare. A neglected foreign body can occur when the patient is mentally challenged or is in an unconscious condition such as following trauma. The diagnosis can be delayed because there is no typical history of choking or breathing difficulty.

This special editorial assessed the recent developments in Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences (MJMS) and examined the characteristics of the submission, peer review, and publication processes for MJMS. This retrospective analysis used information about the manuscripts submitted to MJMS during the one-year period (from 1 June 2010 to 31 May 2010) since the start of current online submission and review system (ScholarOneTM Manuscripts, Thomson Reuters). In addition, we also discussed the future directions of MJMS. Finally, we would like to recommend an annual internal audit for MJMS, which is very useful to monitor the growth of this journal progressively.