Cavernous angiomas of the internal auditory canal are rare lesions. The authors present a case of a 29-year-old lady with multiple infratentorial cavernous angiomas, whose sister had previously undergone surgery for a similar supratentorial lesion. She initially presented with an acute brainstem haematoma, secondary to a pontine cavernous angioma. Three years later she developed progressive right-sided sensorineural hearing loss and facial nerve paresis due to an internal auditory canal lesion. This was removed via the translabyrinthine approach and was found to be a cavernous angioma.

This report underlines the multiple and dynamic nature of familial cavernous angiomas, as well as the importance of follow up to determine whether new symptoms are due to the enlargement of known angiomas or the development of new ones. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first report describing a cavernous angioma of the internal auditory canal in the context of familial and multiple infratentorial angiomas.

Intramuscular haemangiomas are rare benign haemangiomas occurring within the skeletal muscle. These are uncommon tumours in the head and neck region and occur most frequently on the trunk and extremities. Fewer than 80 cases of intra-muscular haemangioma in the head and neck region have been reported in the literature.

A case of intramuscular haemangioma of the sternocleidomastoid muscle is presented. The review of occurrence and natural history of such tumours is described and clinical and radiological presentation, histological classifications and treatment modalities are discussed.

A patient with a four-week history of hypaesthesia and recurrent swelling of the cheek in the left infraorbital region presented with a computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrating an expansion in the infraorbital nerve canal, thought to be a neuroma. The tumour was surgically removed without complications and no bleeding. Histopathological investigation showed a partially thrombosed cavernous haemangioma. To our knowledge, after reviewing the literature, this is the first report of a cavernous haemangioma in the infraorbital nerve canal.

Cavernous haemangioma of the temporal bone is a rare lesion and nearly always of limited extent. A case of a large and rapidly progressive temporal bone haemangioma in a child is presented.

Negative angiography led to biopsy at which profuse and troublesome haemorrhage was encountered. Subsequent Red Blood Cell labelled scan demonstrated blood pooling in the lesion. The combination of positive RBC labelled scan and negative angiography can only occur in lesions in which blood pooling takes place, enabling biopsy with its hazards to be avoided.

The tumour was resected using a skull base, infratemporal approach. Morbidity was minimal. There was no evidence of recurrence at a 15 month follow-up.