Karel Frederik Wenckebach (; March 24, 1864 – November 11, 1940) was a Dutch

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

who was a native of

the Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. He studied medicine in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

, and in 1901 become a professor of medicine at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

. Later he was a professor at the Universities of

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

(1911–14) and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(1914–29).

Contributions in cardiology

Wenckebach is primarily remembered for his work in

cardiology Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart d ...

. In 1899 he provided a description of irregular pulses due to partial blockage of atrioventricular conduction, creating a progressive lengthening of conduction time in cardiac tissue. The condition was referred to as a "

second degree AV block Second-degree atrioventricular block (AV block) is a disease of the electrical conduction system of the heart. It is a conduction block between the atria and ventricles. The presence of second-degree AV block is diagnosed when one or more (but n ...

" and later named the "Wenckebach phenomenon" and reclassified as Mobitz type I block in Mobitz's 1924 paper. A similar phenomenon can also occur in the

sinoatrial node The sinoatrial node (also known as the sinuatrial node, SA node or sinus node) is an oval shaped region of special cardiac muscle in the upper back wall of the right atrium made up of cells known as pacemaker cells. The sinus node is approximat ...

where it gives rise to type I second degree SA block, and this is also known as a Wenckebach block; the two have distinct features on an ECG however. Type I A-V block 5-to-4 Wenckebach periods

Type I A-V block 5-to-4 Wenckebach periods

Wenckebach is credited for describing the median bundle of the heart's conductive system that connects the

to the

atrioventricular node The atrioventricular node or AV node electrically connects the heart's atria and ventricles to coordinate beating in the top of the heart; it is part of the electrical conduction system of the heart. The AV node lies at the lower back section of t ...

. This bundle was named Wenckebach's bundle, and is also known as the middle internodal tract. Wenckebach's bundle is one of the three internodal pathways, the others being the "posterior internodal tract" (Thorel's pathway), and the "anterior internodal tract" (some fibers of which also project to

Bachmann's bundle In the heart's conduction system, Bachmann's bundle (also called the Bachmann bundle or the interatrial band) is a branch of the anterior internodal tract that resides on the inner wall of the left atrium. It is a broad band of cardiac muscle th ...

, and then into the

left atrium The atrium ( la, ātrium, , entry hall) is one of two upper chambers in the heart that receives blood from the circulatory system. The blood in the atria is pumped into the heart ventricles through the atrioventricular valves. There are two atr ...

). Wenckebach was an early advocate involving the use of

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg cr ...

for treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Family

His father Eduard (1813-1874) has been credited with developing the very first telegraphic communications line in the Netherlands, between

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. He had two brothers, Henri Johan Eduard (1861-1924), director of the State Mines and later of the Dutch Ironworks in

IJmuiden IJ_(digraph).html" ;"title="n IJ (digraph)">n IJ (digraph) and that should remain the only places where they are used. > IJmuiden () is a port city in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is the main town in the municipality ...

, and Ludwig Willem Reymert (1860-1937), a well-known painter and book illustrator. His son

Oswald Oswald may refer to: People * Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name *Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters *Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbu ...

became a sculptor, painter and medallist, most widely known for his war monuments and designing the Dutch coins issued between 1948 and 1981.

Selected writings

* ''Arythmie als Ausdruck bestimmter Funktionsstörungen des Herzens'' (1903, Engelse vertaling: (1904) * ''Die unregelmässige Herztätigkeit und ihre klinische Bedeutung'' (1914) * ''Herz- und Kreislaufinsufficienz'' (1931)

References

External links

Who Named It?; Karel Frederik Wenckebach
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wenckebach, Karel Frederik 1864 births 1940 deaths 20th-century Dutch anatomists Dutch cardiologists Academics of the University of Vienna Dutch expatriates in Austria Physicians from The Hague