The Papilla of Vater just below the Pylorus Presenting as Recurrent Duodenal Ulcer Bleeding

Abstract

The papilla of Vater emptying into the duodenal bulb site is extremely rare and considered an aberrant condition. We report here a case with recurrent duodenal ulcer bleeding associated with this anomaly. A 42-year-old man was admitted to St. Mary Hospital because of tarry stool for three days. Despite no documented etiology to explain recurrent ulceration, the patient had about ten episodes of ulcer bleeding since 1995. On duodenoscopy, 1.0 x 0.6 cm sized active stage duodenal ulcer with oozing was observed at the posterior wall side below the pylorus. The papilla of Vater was bulging just below the pylorus. Bile juice was excreted from its opening. Pancreatic duct and common bile duct, which drained into the bulb site, were observed on ERCP. In this report, we show that recurrent duodenal ulcer can be associated with the papilla of Vater just below the pylorus.