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Lower gastrointestinal cancers are commonly adenocarcinoma in the colon and rectum, and of squamous cell histology in the anal canal. Squamous cell carcinoma of the rectum is a rare disease attributable to squamous metaplasia in the rectum. The tumour location and histopathology should both serve as indicators to planning treatment, and a robust multidisciplinary team meeting forms the backbone of such decisions., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

We report the case of an elderly man who had visited many physicians with breathlessness and was treated in an outpatient care. The cause of breathlessness was not evaluated, which turned out to be a slow-growing tumour in the mediastinum. Later, we diagnosed it to be a case of neuroendocrine carcinoma arising from the anterior mediastinum. The patient had succumbed to death because of the delayed diagnosis. A simple chest X-ray could have helped to make an early diagnosis. This case is reported with the intention to bring into light the effect of delayed diagnosis of a rare disease presenting with a very common symptom., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2018. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Isolated spleen metastasis (ISM) in general is very rare with a reported incidence of 2.3-7.1% for all solid cancers. Lung cancers rarely metastasise to the spleen. It is very atypical for ISM to be the initial presentation of lung cancer as well. In our case, a 55-year-old woman presented with a 3-week history of left-sided abdominal fullness and dull pain. Workup was remarkable for splenic mass that turns out to be adenocarcinoma with unknown primary tumour. Biopsy of the mass with immunohistochemistry and whole body position emission tomography scan was able to identify lung cancer as the primary tumour. The patient underwent splenectomy, wedge resection of the lung mass along with short-course of chemotherapy. She never had any recurrences since then., (2014 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.)

A 42-year-old man presented to clinic with 1-week history of cough, malaise, loss of appetite and fever. Symptoms started acutely with cough and generalised weakness followed by fever, chills, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. He has been healthy before with no chronic illnesses. Further workup disclosed, leucocytosis with 87% eosinophilia, bilateral lung infiltrate, deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and both right and left biventricular mural thrombi. Extensive workup was done and was consistent with hypereosinophilic syndrome, which explained all his clinical findings. The patient was started on high-dose steroids and responded very well with a complete resolution of symptoms over the course of a few weeks.

A 48-year-old woman presented with a red, pruritic and painful skin rash on her legs bilaterally after she snorted cocaine. This was associated with fever and cough. Physical examination showed large violaceous plaques and large flaccid bullae, involving bilateral lower extremities. Blood work showed neutropoenia with absolute neutrophil count of 0.64×10(9) cells/L. Antinuclear antibody, perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody and anti-double-stranded DNA were positive. Biopsy showed thrombogenic vasculopathy which is consistent mainly with levamisole ingestion that was reported with levamisole ingestion. The patient was counselled to stop cocaine misuse and treated with skin emollients and antibiotics for the pneumonia that was discovered on the chest X-ray. Skin ulcers improved and she was discharged in stable condition. Ten days after discharge, she was readmitted with new lesions and worsening necrotic ulcers from the old lesions. The patient admitted to snorting cocaine again a few days after being discharged.

The combined regimen of peg-interferon α2a plus ribavirin along with protease inhibitors (boceprevir or telaprevir) is considered as a very portent and effective therapy for hepatitis C infections. However, this combined therapy has been associated with a side effect that can make the course of the disease more complicated. In this case, a 50-year-old man developed insulin-dependent diabetes soon after initiating triple hepatitis C therapy. The treatment had to be stopped and the course of his hepatitis C infection has been challenged with this rare side effect.

Giant coronary artery aneurysm is an uncommon but well-recognised entity in infants and children with Kawasaki disease. We describe an unusual case of ischaemic cardiomyopathy in an 86-year-old woman owing to giant aneurysm in a dominant right coronary artery discovered with left heart catheterisation and was missed on ECG and nuclear studies. This case highlights the importance of early diagnosis which allows appropriate management. Transcatheter therapy is the main treatment option in this case; however, medical therapy can be used alone with variable results and outcome.

Complications of laparoscopic adjustable gastric bands (LAGB) are well documented and may include migration, erosion, slippage, infection, pouch dilatation and, rarely, gastric perforation. We describe a rare case involving three such complications simultaneously, namely, gastric erosion, infection and migration through the pylorus-causing proximal jejunal obstruction. As LAGB is now the commonest performed bariatric procedure for the treatment of morbid obesity, we encourage the practising surgeon to be vigilant of these rare but potentially life-threatening complications.

Metastasis of primary endometrial adenocarcinoma to unusual sites has been occasionally reported. However, the authors believe this to be the first case report of metastasis to the appendix. This occurred more than 10 years after curative resection, and presented as sepsis with an intra-abdominal focus.

Botryomycosis is a rare chronic suppurative bacterial infection involving mostly subcutaneous tissues and less frequently other organs. It can be diagnosed by histological examination and culture of the granules. Botryomycosis is mostly caused by Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa but the exact pathogenesis remains uncertain. Treatment often requires a combination of both surgical debridement and long-term antimicrobial therapy. The patient is a young woman known to have Down's syndrome. She had a dramatic presentation with septic shock and acute lung injury with persistence of pulmonary sepsis postoperatively. The importance of postoperative critical care is illustrated by this case in which a young patient underwent major surgery while septic and haemodynamically unstable. According to our research this is the first case of pulmonary botryomycosis reported in Down's syndrome and the first case which developed septic shock requiring vasoactive drugs and ventilation in the intensive care unit.

Gangrenous cystitis is now an extremely rare condition since the widespread use of antibiotics. The authors report a case of gangrenous cystitis in a previously fit and normal 42-year-old male who presented in acute urinary retention. He underwent a partial cystectomy during an exploratory laparotomy for clinical deterioration and peritonitis. Diagnosis of this rare disease is challenged by its low incidence and lack of characteristic pathognomic features, resulting in delayed diagnosis and increased morbidity and mortality. The authors review the literature to date on the aetiology, presentation, diagnosis and management of gangrenous cystitis and emphasise the importance of early and aggressive surgical management.