Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffTracheostomy is a term used to describe a surgically created hole at the front of your neck going into your windpipe (trachea). The term for the surgical procedure to create a tracheostomy is "tracheotomy," but the two terms are often used interchangeably.
In rare circumstances, a tracheostomy is an emergency procedure to help you breathe when your airway is suddenly blocked or impaired, such as after a traumatic injury to your face or neck. But in most cases, tracheostomy is a planned procedure, such as when health problems require long-term use of a machine (ventilator) to help you breathe.
Most tracheostomy procedures are reversed once you regain the ability to breathe on your own. For some people, tracheostomy is permanent.
- Goldenberg D, et al. Management of the impaired airway in the adult. In: Cummings CW, et al. Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby; 2005. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/104363172-4/0/1263/0.html. Accessed Sept. 10, 2008.
- Tracheostomy care. American Head and Neck Society. http://www.headandneckcancer.org/patienteducation/docs/tracheostomy.php. Accessed Sept. 10, 2008.
- Speech for people with tracheostomies or ventilators. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/tracheostomies.htm. Accessed Sept. 11, 2008.
- Custalow CB. Cricothyroidotomy (cricothyrotomy). http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 12, 2008.
- Bauman BD, et al. Overview of tracheostomy. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Sept. 12, 2008.
- Higgins KM , et al. Meta-analysis comparison of open versus percutaneous tracheostomy. The Laryngoscope. 2007;117(3):447-454.
- Maragos NE (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 31, 2008.
