A recognized cause of incomplete or cancelled MRI examinations is anxiety and claustrophobic symptoms in patients undergoing MR scanning. This appears to be a problem in many MRI centres in Western Europe and North America, where it is said to be costly in terms of loss of valuable scan time, and has led to researchers suggesting several anxiety-reducing approaches for MRI. To determine the incidence of failed MRI examination among our patients and if there are any associations with a patient's sex, age and education level, we studied claustrophobia that led to premature termination of the MRI examination in the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) in 3324 patients over 28 months. The incidence of failed MRI examinations due to claustrophobia in the UMMC was found to be only 0.54%. There are associations between claustrophobia in MRI with the patients' sex, age and level of education. The majority of those affected were male patients and young patients in the 25-45-years age group. The patients' education level appears to be the strongest association with failed MRI examinations due to claustrophobia, where the majority of the affected were highly educated individuals. Claustrophobia in MRI is more of a problem among the educated individuals or patients from a higher socio-economic group, which may explain the higher incidence in Western European and North American patients.

This case concerns a 10-year-old boy with a history of behavioral abnormality that arrived at our surgical emergency room with acute abdominal discomfort. The boy had acute colitis-like clinical symptoms resulting from ingested and retained foreign bodies in the colon. These foreign bodies (gravel and stones) had accumulated in the entire colon over a period of 1 year. Attempts to dislodge the foreign bodies from the rectum by mechanical means failed; therefore the possibility of surgical intervention was considered in view of the worsening colitis. However, the problem was finally resolved by repeated basketting by colonoscopy, antibiotics and later laxatives. The case is noteworthy because of the extent of the condition, difficulty of the decision-making, and the relative success of watchful conservative measures.

Retropharyngeal or parapharyngeal abscesses developing after intubation are rare. This can present as surgical emergency post extubation. We report a case of retropharyngeal abscess that probably occurred as a complication of laryngeal mask insertion.

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