Tracheotomy Health Video (Video)

by Dr. Justin Davis

A tracheotomy is a procedure that opens the airways directly through the neck. Learn about the dealing with and performing a tracheotomy in this video.

About this Author

Dr. Davis is one of San Francisco's finest house call specialist physicians and has been providing house calls and office visits to the Bay Area since 2005. His practice is built upon the philosophy that excellent customer service and excellent patient care go together. Dr. Davis works out of a charming 100-year-old Victorian home, and he believes that healing should begin when you walk in the door. While trained in modern medicine, Dr. Davis also has a deep appreciation of cultural anthropology, the natural sciences, and philosophy all of which he integrates with his medical practice. Dr. Davis received his MD from the University of Florida and completed his Family Practice residency at Lehigh Valley Family Practice. He has also lived, studied, and traveled abroad extensively, including for one year in Beijing, China, where he studied and practiced the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture.

Video Transcript

JUSTIN C.K. DAVIS, M.D.: Hi. I'm Dr. Justin Davis and today I'd like to tell you about a tracheotomy. A tracheotomy also known as a tracheostomy is not an actual disease, but a procedure. What this is, is ostomy which is from the Greek root of "to incise" or make a small incision, and tracheia which refers to the trachea. So it's to make a small incision in the trachea. The trachea is the tube which travels just below your voice box and eventually branches out and goes to the lungs and helps to transport the oxygen to the lungs or the air up, and out of your mouth or to your voice box. So why would somebody want to cut a hole in your trachea? Well, the reason we do this is that, sometimes the trachea becomes blocked and it is necessary to do this to help the oxygen be able to flow through it. Or perhaps, there is blockage above the trachea and air can no longer go through. So this might happen in certain diseases, for example if you have a cancer or maybe you're in an accident, and there is some tissue that is blocking the way. Other reasons might be for example, if you're having a severe asthma attack or an allergic reaction, and there is no way to get the airway open except for by going through the trachea. Whatever the reason, it is always done as an emergency procedure or some way to help somebody breathe. Sometimes people that are in a coma also may need a tracheostomy to help them breathe over time, since they're unable to do it very effectively at times by themselves. Well, there is no real treatment for tracheostomy, because, it is in fact the treatment for another disease. Again, we only do it when it is absolutely necessary and often, this is completely reversible, once the problem that caused you to get a tracheotomy or that caused you not to be able to breathe is gone, then the tracheotomy can be taken out and you can breathe on your own. One thing to keep in mind is that because the air that goes through the voice box that causes you to be able to speak will be affected, once you make a hole below it, you'll notice that people that have a tracheotomy will not speak the same as they used to. They may have voice changes and often they'll need to cover the hole to force air up through the voice box. So the next time you see someone with a little tiny tube right around here, and they seem to be breathing or talking through it, you'll now know what it is, it's a tracheotomy.

Tracheotomy Health Video (Video)

About this Author

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