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Tumours are generally associated with a high rate of infections. More so for craniopharyngiomas which may have cranial hardware which increases the infection risk. We have however observed that in reality, cystic fluid shunts in craniopharyngioma patients have an unusually low infection rate, sometimes despite significant risk factors. We present 2 cases of children with histologically confirmed adamantinomatous type craniopharyngioma. Both had ommaya shunts inserted for cystic fluid aspiration as part of treatment. They then presented with exposed shunts but no signs of infection, despite significant risk factors for infection. Studies need to be carried out to determine the factors involved in this seeming omaya shunt infection resistance to these group of patients.

Cobb syndrome is a rare metameric disorder, characterized by either an angioma or an arteriovenous malformation of the spinal cord, with an associated vascular skin lesion of the same metamere. They are less than 50 cases reported to date. Most of the cases were in whites. We report a case of an 18-year-old black man who presented with sudden severe backache with rapidly progressing paraplegia and bowel and bladder symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging showed an arteriovenous malformation from forth to the twelfth thoracic vertebrae (T4-T12). He had a congenital cutaneous vascular back lesion covering the same dermatomes. This is diagnostic of Cobb´s syndrome.