Open AccessRadio-pathological diagnosis of hepatobiliary ascariasis: A rare entity
Author(s) -
Indranil Chakrabarti,
Amita Giri,
Anuradha De,
Asit Chandra Roy
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of cytology/journal of cytology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.267
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 0974-5165
pISSN - 0970-9371
DOI - 10.4103/0970-9371.83468
Subject(s) - ascaris lumbricoides , medicine , ascariasis , gall , liver abscess , abscess , pathological , pathology , surgery , helminths , biology , botany , immunology
Ascariasis is the commonest helminthic infection in humans, caused by the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides. The adult worms usually reside in the small intestine. Rarely, they migrate into the bile duct and pancreatic ducts, but involvement of the gall bladder and/or liver parenchyma is extremely rare. Here, we describe a case of a 32-year-old woman who presented with fever, anorexia, right upper quadrant pain and mild hepatomegaly. Ultrasonography revealed a liver abscess and a concurrent moving adult worm in the gall bladder. Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) from the liver abscess showed presence of fertilized eggs of Ascaris lumbricoides. A diagnosis of gall bladder and hepatic ascariasis was made. The patient responded well to conservative management. Ascaris-induced liver abscess with concurrent living adult worm in gall bladder has rarely been reported. Ultrasonography and FNAC are important diagnostic modalities for detection of such lesions. Conservative management appears to be the treatment of choice for hepatobiliary ascariasis.