Zur Analyse des unregelmässigen Pulses. 1-4. Mitteilung.

Wenckebach, Karel Frederik

Publication Date: 1899

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Z. klin. Med., 36,37,39,44. - Berlin, August Hirschwald, 1899-1902, 8°, (4), 536, 1 Taf.; (4), 549, 8 Taf.; (4), 568, 2 Taf.; (4), 496, 1 Portr., 5 lith. Taf., 4 Einbände der Zeit. WENCKEBACH - LUCIANI PHENOMENON - Wenckebach observed for the first time, a form of periodic rhythm which is now called the Wenckebach phenomenon. 1.: Zur Analyse des unregelmässigen Pulses (36: pp.181-199, 11 Abb., 1 Taf.). 2.: Zur Analyse des unregelmässigen Pulses (37: pp.475-488, 1 Taf.). 3.: Ueber einige Formen von Allorhytmie und Bradycardie (39: pp.293-304, 2 Abb., 1 Taf.). 4.: Zur Analyse des unregelmässigen Pulses (44: pp.218-225, 4 Abb.). "Karel Frederick Wenckebach (1864-1970) was born at The Hague on March 24, 1864. In 1888 he obtained his medical degree from the University of Utrecht, where he met and became a friend of Einthoven. While a medical student under the influence of Engelmann, he developed a keen interest in the arrhythmias. He published his classic work on the arrhythmias, "Die Arhythmie, als Ausdruck bestimmter Funktionsstörungen des Herzens", in 1903, shortly after Mackenzie published The Study of the Pulse. At that time, Wenckebach was Professor of Medicine at Groningen. Later, he held similar positions at Strassburg and Vienna. He remained at Vienna until 1929, where he established a clinic which attracted students from all over the world, particularly from America. Wenckebach, although younger than Mackenzie, was like him in many ways. Wenckebach was primarily a clinician. He worked with the polygraph and was suspicious of the electrocardiograph. An era in the history of cardiology began and ended with Mackenzie and Wenckebach. As a youth, Wenckebach had a great admiration for Mackenzie; and at a time when Mackenzie was ignored by his own countrymen, Wenckebach went to Burnley to visit him. In 1930, five years after Mackenzie's death, Wenckebach made a pilgrimage to the Research Institute founded by Mackenzie at St. Andrews. Wenckebach was the first to recognize extrasystoles in man (1898). However, he is best known for his description, in 1899, of the arrhythmia which is now termed the "Wenckebach phenomenon." As a result of his studies on the arrhythmias with the polygraph, Wenckebach had great influence on electrocardiography. He was also one of the first to suggest that the various disorders of the heartbeat which were produced in experimental animals were of the same nature as those observed clinically in man." "Incomplete hear block was studied extensively in man by Wenckebach, Mackenzie and Ha, by means of the polygraph. Wenckebach first noted the phenomenon from a patient with incomplete heart block. Wenckebach recognized that the pulse varied in an manner that had been described by Luciani in 1872. Luciani showed that the isolated ventricle of a frog was able to beat when supplied with serum but that the contractions were irregular and occurred in distinct groups, with pauses of varying lenths between the groups. Wenckebach called the pauses seen in the clinical sphygmogram "Luciani periods. ." G.E. Burch & N.P. de Pasquale, A History of Electrocardiography, pp.83-84; 154-155 Garrison & Morton No.2809.1. Seller Inventory # 12642

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Title: Zur Analyse des unregelmässigen Pulses. 1-4....

Publication Date: 1899