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Foreign bodies in common bile duct (CBD) are rare. Obstructive jaundice in patients who have undergone cholecystectomy may be due to a variety of causes. Common causes of obstruction in these cases are residual stones, inflammatory or ischaemic strictures following CBD injury during cholecystectomy or malignant strictures. Foreign bodies in the bile duct in these post cholecystectomy patients are known but reported very rarely. Clinical features and biochemistry of these patients are no different than those due to other causes mentioned above. Imaging studies will show obstruction due to stones or sludge or narrowing but may not give conclusive diagnosis of a foreign body. Endoscopic ultrasound is helpful in these cases as it shows a hyperechoic foreign body within the stone if the substance is a metallic clip. In our current case series, we are presenting eight such cases with post cholecystectomy foreign bodies, in the form of materials used for ligating or clipping the cystic duct before transection during cholecystectomy, or a mistakenly left behind gauze piece, migrating into the bile duct and forming a nidus for stone formation and causing CBD obstruction. To conclude, if a patient presents with biliary obstruction with a history of cholecystectomy, the possibility of foreign body in the CBD must be considered as a possible differential diagnosis.

Anomalous pancreaticobiliary ductal union (APBDU) can cause recurrent acute pancreatitis. We describe the case of a 16-year-old boy with recurrent acute pancreatitis. The discussion provides a review of recent literature, supporting use of various diagnostic modalities and surgery as choice of treatment.

Our study aimed to determine the prevalence of prior exposure to hepatitis A virus in Crohn’s disease patients, whose IgG antibody levels against hepatitis A virus were compared with age and sex-matched controls. All of the 41 cases with Crohn’s disease and 43 controls included in the study tested positive for IgG anti-hepatitis A virus antibody, with titres (38.8 IU/ml, 22–63.9; median, IQR) similar to those in controls (40.7 IU/ml, 17.3–66.7; p = 0.75). Environmental sanitation remains poor in India, despite reasonable economic gains as reflected by universal exposure to hepatitis A virus infection. Vaccination against hepatitis A may not be important in patients attending inflammatory bowel disease clinic, owing to natural immunity provided by prior infection. The observed rise in inflammatory bowel disease incidence seems to be increasing despite persistently poor environmental hygiene.