Ascaris-induced acute pancreatitis

The incidence, clinical disease and outcome of acute pancreatitis caused by ascariasis in an endemic area of Kashmir, India, was studied prospectively. Ascariasis was an aetiological factor in 59 of 256 patients (23.0 per cent) with acute pancreatitis. Worms had invaded the bile duct in 51 patients, the pancreatic duct in four and both ducts in four. Pancreatitis was mild in 46 patients and severe in 13. Associated pyogenic cholangitis was present in eight. Acute complications occurred in 11 patients. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was performed in all cases within 72 h of admission and delineated ascarides in the duodenum invading the ampullary orifice (44 patients), in the bile duct (55) and in the pancreatic duct (eight). At ERCP, worms were extracted from the ampullary orifice and removed via the mouth of 33 patients with intractable epigastric pain, leading to rapid relief of symptoms. The eight patients with pyogenic cholangitis underwent endoscopic nasobiliary drainage to decompress the bile ducts; worms were extracted from the bile duct of three of these patients using a Dormia basket. A total of 56 patients recovered from acute illness with a combination of conservative and endoscopic treatment; the other three required emergency surgery. At a mean(s.d.) follow‐up of 19(7) months, ten patients showed symptomatic worm reinvasion of the biliary tree. The overall mortality rate was 3 per cent.