Postoperative biliary ascariasis: presentation and management--experience

Subsequent to preoperative and perioperative indications the common bile duct was explored in 705 patients over a 12-year period, from January 1983 to December 1994. Consequent postoperative T-tube cholangiography revealed the presence of worms in 22 patients. Expulsion of the worms followed T-tube irrigation with 0.9% normal saline in 18 patients. Only one patient had to be reexplored to remove the ascaris. In two patients the worm was removed along with the T-tube, and in one patient the worm came out through the T-tube tract.