title: Life-threatening complications of ascariasis in trauma patients: a review of the literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ascariasis is one of the most common human parasitic infections worldwide. In some rare cases, ascariasis may cause serious consequences even sudden death. This study was undertaken to review the life-threatening complications of ascariasis in trauma patients reported in the literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Relevant articles about ascariasis and trauma were searched from Pubmed, Google scholar, Scirus, and Wanfang databases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-four patients with ascariasis were collected from 21 articles searched. Most of these patients were from tropical and subtropical countries. Of the 24 patients, 12 were children. Their major complications occurred in the airway passage and digestive tract. There were 3 fatal cases in these patients. Twelve of the 24 patients described in 10 articles were reported in the last 10 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early diagnosis and prompt intervention are essential to minimize the high morbidity and mortality of these serious complications in trauma patients. Physicians should be aware of the possibility of Ascaris infection in a trauma patient from endemic area of ascariasis. History of Ascaris infection and routine examination of feces for Ascaris eggs may be helpful to make a correct diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, 303 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Quan-Yue
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, 303 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Dong-Hai
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, 303 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, 303 Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Nanning 530021, China.
authors.forename: Chuan-Nong
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: Ascariasis; Ascaris lumbricoides; Complications; Emergency medicine; Surgery; Trauma