tracheostomy tube
Meaning of tracheostomy tube: Breathing through an opening in the neck rather than the nose and mouth, with the voice box left out of the path.
Definition of tracheostomy tube
A tracheostomy tube is a short curved tube that sits in a surgically made opening through the front of the neck into the windpipe. It holds that passage open and carries air straight toward the lungs. Most are molded plastic, and many carry a soft balloon around the shaft, a removable inner liner, and a flat plate held by ties around the neck.
What are its parts for?
The device is rarely a single piece of tubing. An inner liner slides out for cleaning, so thick secretions cannot silently block the airway. A balloon, called a cuff, inflates against the wall of the windpipe to seal it, which allows a ventilator to push air in and keeps material from the stomach out of the lungs. A smooth-tipped guide sits inside the tube during insertion and is removed once the tube is in place. Some tubes carry a window in the outer curve that lets air pass upward toward the voice box.
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Outer cannula | The tube itself, holding the passage open |
| Inner cannula | Slides out for cleaning so secretions cannot block the airway |
| Cuff | Inflatable seal for ventilation and for keeping stomach contents out |
| Obturator | Rounded guide used only while the tube is being placed |
| Neck plate | Anchors the tube with ties or a collar |
Why does the voice change?
Speech needs air moving upward past the vocal cords. A cuffed tube sends every breath out through the neck instead, so the cords never vibrate and no sound is produced. Deflating the cuff, or fitting a one-way valve that lets air in through the tube but forces it out past the cords, restores a voice in many cases. The same diversion removes the airflow that carries scent to the nose, so smell and much of what is experienced as flavor fade while the cuff stays up.
How does it differ from a tracheostomy button?
A tracheostomy button is a short plug that keeps the healed opening from closing over but does not reach into the airway or connect to breathing equipment. The tube is a working airway; the button is a placeholder. Both depend on an opening created by a tracheostomy. Air arriving through either one has skipped the nose, which normally warms, moistens and filters every breath, so the gas reaches the airway cold and dry.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
The tracheostomy tube was changed without difficulty and the inner cannula was clear.
Good to know
Air entering through the tube bypasses the nose, so it arrives cold and dry and secretions thicken unless the gas is humidified, and an inflated cuff diverts exhaled air away from the vocal cords, which removes the voice.
Word origin
Where “tracheostomy tube” comes from
Tracheostomy joins the Greek tracheia, meaning rough, used of the ringed windpipe, with stoma, a mouth or opening.