Karel Frederik Wenckebach "second degree AV block" 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 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
Sinoatrial node the 3 phases of a sinoatrial node action potential. In the ventricular action potential, there are 5 phases (labelled 0-4), however pacemaker action potentials don’t have an obvious phase 1 or 2. Phase 4 This phase is also known as the pacemaker potential. Immediately following an action potential, when the membrane potential is very negative (it is hyperpolarised) the voltage slowly begins to increase. This is initially due to the closing of potassium channels, which reduces the flow of potassium ions (I) out of the cell (see phase 3, below). Alongside the deactivation of the potassium channels, channels known as