Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticographic features of pancreaticobiliary ascariasis.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticographic features of ascariasis involving the biliary system (56) and pancreatic duct (4) in 60 consecutive patients have been analyzed and their various radiologic appearances described. Ascaris not only presents as a smooth linear filling defect, as commonly described in the literature, but also in a variety of other shapes like parallel smooth filling defects, curves, and loops crossing the hepatic ducts transversely. They can also cause dilatation of the ducts that, depending upon their number and duration of stay, is statistically significant and reversible. Ascaris can also invade the pancreatic duct causing chronic pancreatitis.