Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
ampulla of Va·ter Pronunciation:
-'fät-&r Function:
noun : a trumpet-mouthed dilatation of the duodenal wall at the opening ofthe fused pancreatic and common bile ducts called also
papilla of Vater Vater, Abraham (1684–1751) German anatomist. Vater was a professor of anatomy and botanyand later of pathology and therapeutics at Wittenberg. In 1710 he first noted the ampulla that has been named after him, but he did not publish a description of it until 1720. In 1717 he described theterminal capsules of certain sensory nerve fibers. They were later described by the Italian anatomist Filippo Pacini in 1840. Now these corpuscles are more commonly identified with Pacini than withVater.
