Karel Frederik Wenckebach

Karel Frederik Wenckebach
Karel Frederik Wenckebach
Born	March 24, 1864 The Hague, Netherlands
Died	November 11, 1940 Vienna, Austria
Nationality	Dutch
Fields	anatomy cardiology
Institutions	University of Groningen

Karel Frederik Wenckebach (March 24, 1864 – November 11, 1940) was a Dutch anatomist who was a native of the Hague.

He studied medicine in Utrecht, and in 1901 become a professor of medicine at the University of Groningen. Later he was a professor at the Universities of Strasbourg (1911–14) and Vienna (1914–29).

Wenckebach (pronounced ven-kĕ-bak') is primarily remembered for his work in cardiology. 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" (Mobitz Type I), and later named the Wenckebach phenomenon. A similar phenomenon can also occur in the Sinoatrial node 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.

Wenckebach is credited for describing the median bundle of the heart's conductive system that connects the sinoatrial node to the atrioventricular node. 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, and then into the left atrium).