Acute abdomen with jaundice: A clue to extrahepatic biliary tract perforation.

Introduction: Among a plethora of causes of acute abdomen, spontaneous common bile duct perforation (SCBDP) resulting in biliary peritonitis is almost never envisaged. Since the term SCBDP is often misconstrued as absence of an identifiable cause of perforation, 'nontraumatic perforation of CBD' is also in parlance to exclude relatively common causes such as trauma and iatrogenic injuries. In adults, choledochal cyst, cholangitis, infection, pancreatitis, pancreatobiliary maljunction have been identified as causes of perforation, however, choledocholithiasis remains the most common cause associated with spontaneous perforation of extra hepatic bile duct.