English: Low radioactive barium is swallowed as contrast medium for the X-ray film. It shows the duodenum, the first portion of the bowel after the stomach, packed with worms. The worms are the black areas showing up as a tangled mass within the white of the contrast medium. It is believed that this is a natural part of the ascaris' daily round but predisposes to migration into the biliary tree.

Duodenum: The first portion of the bowel after the stomach. Bile drains from the liver into the duodenum through a duct that emerges at the Ampulla of Vater....this reflects the first description of this duct by Vater in the 17th century.

The "Barium meal" is an X-ray technique where the patient swallows a metallic-based fluid (Barium is the metal) which shows up as white on an X-ray film. The radiologist can watch what happens as this fluid is swallowed and as it goes on down through the stomach and small intestine.

Photo by Larry Hadley, South Africa

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